Asset-Herausgeber
South East Europe
Interaktive Karten
Albania
Media Situation:
Recently, the situation of Albanian media outlets and journalists has become more critical compared to the working conditions a few years ago. International organisations and studies report the formation of an intimidating, hostile and offensive environment for people working in the media. The European Commission’s Albania 2019 Report states that “threats and intimidating language against journalists have increased”. More
Media Freedom:
The recent Reporters Without Borders (RWB) report on freedom of the press reveals that media freedom in Albania has receded compared to the past. Currently, Albania is ranked position 84 among 180 countries regarding press freedom. In 2019, the country held position 82. More
Media Outlets:
The number of media outlets in Albania is relatively high compared to the country’s population. The right to establish a media outlet is guaranteed by law for all individuals and organisations. More
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Media Situation:
More than twenty years after the end of the war, in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is still burdened by the problems from that time: national intolerance, political discordance and economic decline. By its constitution, it is divided into two entities, The Federation of B&H (FB&H) and the Republic of Srpska (RS), and the Brcko District. This is of relevance for understanding its media system. Most of the media in B&H are divided along entity, ethnic, political-interests and economic lines. The working conditions of most journalists are very difficult. They are irregularly paid, have low salaries, an undefined status and contracts that do not guarantee workplace security. More
Media Freedom:
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s score in the Reporters Without Borders Freedom of the Press Index has shown a small improvement of the media freedom situation in recent years. As 58th out of 180 countries in the latest 2020 ranking, the Balkan country clearly performs comparatively well by South East European standards, but significant deficits remain. More
Media Outlets:
The media market in B&H is fragmented and oversaturated. The media picture of B&H consists of a relatively large amount of media compared to the about 3.5 million citizens and a small market space to match. The advertising market has dropped dramatically in recent years – from 2014 to 2019 by around 40 percent – currently being at about 18 million EUR annually, according to the IREX media Sustainability Index 2019. More
Bulgaria
Media Situation:
More than 30 years after the end of the communist era, the media landscape in Bulgaria has a bad reputation again. Monopolisation in the newspaper sector, insufficient or inefficient legal rules and a self-regulation system only in theory, all give rise to criticism. A lack of economic transparency, self-censorship and lack of objectivity are often mentioned both by media experts and journalists. More
Media Freedom:
Concerns over media freedom in Bulgaria have been voiced for several years in a row. The recent Press Freedom Index 2019 of the media watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB) confirms the worrying trend: Bulgaria is again the lowest ranked country in the European Union in terms of media freedom (111th place of 180 countries). More
Media Outlets:
The Bulgarian media landscape is determined by a huge number of media outlets and at the same time an economically limited media market. The amount of media companies does not necessary lead to a more pluralistic and diverse media scene. There is a trend of ownership concentration in the print media. Ownership structures of media outlets are often not transparent. More
Croatia
Media Situation:
From socialist times to the current democracy, Croatian media have undergone a transition through a series of reforms. The dissolution of Yugoslavia and the autonomy in Croatia have opened up the door to the worldwide and European trend of market liberalization. There has been a lack of transparency of media ownership and privatization, due to which the main objective of journalism transformed into primarily gaining profit, whereas the quality of the media content became of secondary importance. More
Media Freedom:
Croatia became the newest member of the European Union in 2013 and in the course of the accession period harmonised its media legislation comprehensively with European standards. As such, EU membership per se cannot guarantee media freedom, however. Croatia continues to score mediocrely in press freedom rankings and the media industry has been suffering from the financial crisis. More
Media Outlets:
Croatia has too many media outlets for such a small market. The media is run by the state and private owners whose identity, especially in printed media, is largely unknown. Nowadays public and commercial broadcasting stations are present, which hold national, local and regional concessions. Parallel to the global development of technology, the internet is also developing and becoming an important segment of informing the public. More
Kosovo
Media Situation:
Media in Kosovo experienced entirely two different epochs, before and after the Kosovo War. Before the War media in Albanian language, the native tongue of most Kosovars, were banned or intimidated. After the War, with the help of the international community, a public broadcaster was set up and several private ones were aided. Since then, the media market has grown and diversified. More
Media Freedom:
Europe’s newest country is also home to a young media environment. Despite some recent attempts to further improve the legislative framework that guarantees freedom of speech and the press, a number of serious challenges to media freedom remains. More
Media Outlets:
The media market is fairly small in financial terms, but very diverse for a small country like Kosovo. The market is dominated by one public broadcaster, which includes four TV channels and two radio stations. The private sector consists of TVs, radios, daily newspapers and online media. Kosovo's difficult economic situation has a direct impact on the media. Significant challenges are thus posed to the well-functioning and professionalism of media in Kosovo by the financial difficulties and lack of sustainability of media companies. The online news portals are particularly prone to changes and their market is still unstable, since it is in its early stage of developing. More
North Macedonia
Media Situation:
The media landscape in Macedonia is diverse and characterized by a decreasing quality of journalistic work, lack of objectivity and professionalism. This is mainly a result of increasing influence of political and business elites. At the same time electronic media have faced an inefficient implementation of new regulations adopted in accordance to the EU standards as well as objectives that the country has to fulfill on its path to the European integration. This provokes discussions and divisions of opinions among media representatives ("pro" and "anti" changes in the print media regulations). More
Media Freedom:
Violations of media freedom have become commonplace in Macedonia. Infamously it is currently the only South East European country that has imprisoned a journalist for exercising his profession. Although Macedonia wants to join the European Union (EU), its lack of commitment to media freedom may pose some serious challenges for this process, should the current deadlock over the naming dispute with Greece be resolved and negotiations start. More
Media Outlets:
The Macedonian media landscape is determined by a huge number of media outlets. The fall of the communist regime and the transformation of society brought dramatic changes in the media system. A big media diversity does not necessary lead to a large pluralism of opinions. There is no efficient print media legislation which could regulate economic transparency in the media business, and existing rules are not obeyed. Private media outlets often change owners. This often leads to a change of their political affiliation. These changes provoke prominent journalists to leave one medium for another. During that process some of the popular media disappeared completely. More
Montenegro
Media Situation:
Montenegro has passed a serious change, from a totalitarian society with only one television and one newspaper owned by state government, to a pluralistic and cluttered media landscape. The situation in Montenegro was similar like in other countries of former Yugoslavia. The media market started its development after the country had left the single party system in the 1990s. The biggest issue in Montenegro is financing of media, which is a problem on several levels. Media that are financed from the state budget are subject of government influence. In theory, all commercial media in Montenegro should be independent, but since Montenegro is a small market, commercial media often carry out PR projects for the government, thus becoming susceptible to government influence. Yet, these are problems faced by all the former Yugoslav republics, and Montenegro is not different in this aspect. The Public Procurement Law reduced government influence to some extent. However, the economic market in Montenegro is getting more liberal due to European legislation (which is adopted by Montenegro on the road to EU membership). More
Media Freedom:
Montenegro is one of the most hostile environments for investigative reporting and the number of serious crimes against journalists has been criticised by international observers, including media watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB), the European Union (EU) and the OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović. Not only their occurrence, but also the indifference authorities have shown in regard to their investigation has posed a serious obstacle for media freedom. At the same time the country is eager to join the EU as soon as possible. More
Media Outlets:
According to the Agency for Electronic Media in 2020, there are 14 commercial television stations and 35 commercial radio stations, along with the national public service broadcaster and 19 local public services (five television and 14 radio stations). Also, there are 7 daily newspapers on national level. The Montenegrin media market is sometimes called a “media colony” since there are many foreign media outlets operating in the small country. More
Republic of Moldova
Media Situation:
After re-gaining its independence in 1992, the media market of the Republic of Moldova is still facing a series of problems that hinder the development of a free and independent press. A number of changes in media legislation, made in 2010 by the Moldovan Parliament, lead to the NGO Freedom House upgrading the status of the media from "not free" to "partly free" in its annual media freedom ranking. However, since then, there were no more significant developments in this area that would have allowed Moldova to join countries with the status of a free press. More
Media Freedom:
While media freedom is well safeguarded in Moldova, the case of the separatist region Transnistria is quite different. Soviet-style repression of independent media and a politicised state media apparatus are a reality in the breakaway region. The country remains highly polarised politically and socially, which is why journalists face a somewhat insecure working environment. More
Media Outlets:
Despite the status of the poorest nation in Europe, Moldova is media-rich. The media market is relatively young and saturated. Over 50 percent of the outlets were registered after 2000. Although the official and most widely used language in Moldova is Romanian, an important segment of the market is occupied by media issued in Russian language. About half of print media is issued in Romanian and the other half in Russian, while almost all main TV channels broadcast news in both Romanian and Russian. More
Romania
Media Situation:
Freedom of expression and its corollary, media freedom, have long been considered two of the main gains of democracy in Romania, after the fall of Communism. The first years after 1989 were "growth years" for both media and political sectors in Romania. In 1993, Romania joined the Council of Europe and signed the association agreement with EU, while in 1995 applied officially for EU membership. The legislative harmonization started and many progresses were made during those years. In January 2007, Romania became a full-fledged EU member, which eased the compliance pressure on the authorities. More
Media Freedom:
Romania is the top performer in South East Europe in terms of press freedom – at least in the ranking of Reporters Without Borders. And yet, a disturbing rhetoric against the journalists as well as politicised media outlets have contributed to an unbalanced media environment. What is more, the legal provisions protecting independence of the press are not properly enforced and even sometimes in danger of being reversed. More
Media Outlets:
The print media was heavily affected by both economic crises and the changes in the media consumption pattern. The advertising revenues have decreased slowly, but steadily in the past decade, by circa five percent every year lately. As a result, the newspapers shrank their newsrooms, decreased the number of pages or even shut down their paper editions all together. More
Serbia
Media Situation:
Although after the democratic changes in 2000 it was expected that the Serbian media would quickly develop and gradually reach the European standards, some of the key problems have still remained unsolved even 20 years later. Non-transparent ownership, endangered independence of the media, unfinished media reform and increasingly difficult financial situation are the biggest problems that Serbian media are facing. More
Media Freedom:
Serbia’s European course is no longer a matter of internal debate – all major political factions have committed to the project. Now that accession talks with the European Union have officially been launched, the country’s task to implement the necessary and already initiated reforms in one of the key areas – media freedom – seems ever more urgent. Not outright attacks against journalists but lingering soft-censorship is the most pressing obstacle for media freedom in the Balkan country. More
Media Outlets:
Despite the fact that the Serbian media market is characterized by a large number of public and private broadcasters, as well as print and online media, media pluralism still isn’t satisfactory. The independence of journalists and editors is limited by direct or indirect impact of political parties and the private sector, which is particularly evident in the situation when the minimum number of media is profitable and doesn’t depend on government assistance or powerful advertisers. Therefore, self-censorship in the Serbian media becomes more pronounced, which media professionals themselves recognize as the greatest threat. Media ownership is not transparent and often the true owners of the most influential media in the country are not known. More
