WHO PAYS FOR GOOD JOURNALISM?

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between accountability journalism and changing media markets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), especially in the Baltic countries. Although there is agreement that news journalism is salient for vital democratic public spheres, there is a dearth of studies on the relationship between commercial success and media ownership. The comparative approach looks at CEE media systems as media laboratories where the overall tendencies of the media industry can often be seen in their most severe form. Against the common claim of cultural colonialisation caused by foreign ownership within the region, this article argues that in the case of CEE societies, foreign ownership can be beneficial for accountability journalism by enabling journalists to secure the required distance from local political and economic interests. The article approaches the ownership/democracy equation by comparing the structural tendencies of the region, using Latvia as its case study. The data consist of media ownership and readership data, and specialist interviews.

Keywords:

• Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries
• democracy
• journalism
• media ownership
• post-communist societies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors want to thank the MDCEE project, St. Antony's College, Oxford and interviewed journalists from Diena and others in Lithuania, Estonia and Bulgaria.

Notes

1. The earliest theories of media ownership were often about “cultural imperialism” (see, for example, Hamelink, 1983; Mattelart, 1983; McChesney, 2000; Schiller, 1976, 1991) that critically argued that international owners suppress local voices and induce cultural homogenisation. Much academic writing on foreign ownership has also centred around the flow of Western media products, ideas and ways of thinking, falling back on old models of cultural colonialism. When foreign investors entered the scene in the CEE region this argument was commonly revoked.

2. Interviews: Pauls Raudseps, former editor, Diena, Riga, Latvia, 14 August 2009; Sanita Jemberga, former journalist, Diena, Riga, Latvia, 17 August 2009; Nellija Lǒcmele, former editor-in-chief, Dienas Mediji publishing house, Riga, Latvia, 14 August 2009; Milda Celeciute, journalist, Vilnius, Lithuania, 22 August 2009; Olga Procevska, journalist, Riga, Latvia, 16 August 2009; Arturas Racas, senior journalist, Riga, Latvia, 17 August 2009; Juris Kaza, journalist, Riga, Latvia, 17 August 2009; Inta Brikše, academic, Riga, Latvia, 15 September 2008; Kadri Liik, journalist, Tallinn, Estonia, 15 October 2008; Vita Dreijere, journalist, Diena, Riga, Latvia, 10 September 2010; Mara Mikelsone, former editor, Diena.lv news portal, Riga, Latvia, 23 September 2010; Vikija Valdmane-Rozenberga, editor, Diena, Riga, Latvia, 23 September 2010; Baiba Rulle, former journalist, Diena, Riga, Latvia, 10 September 2010; Guntis Bojars, editor-in-chief, Dienas Mediji publishing house, Riga, Latvia, 23 September 2010.

3. However, a survey of media experts on Lithuania conducted by TNS Gallup in January and February 2009 revealed a trend of falsifying real circulation figures by producing daily a number of copies in excess of demand.