This investigation of the media in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, seeks to outline the legacies of communism confronting media reform, and how interaction between the media, state, society and market has led to the particular and unique dynamics in each case.

Since the collapse of communism in 1989 Eastern Europe has experienced a fundamental transformation in its economic, political and social institutions. Observers of the region have often viewed the media as little more than instruments of propaganda in the hands of the party-state which can now be easily made into independent sources of communication. However, the function and effects of the media within communist and post-communist Eastern Europe have been more diverse than such generalizations would indicate.