Mediamorphoses: the political economy of the print media in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland during the first decade of the post-communist era

The thesis provides a comparative analysis of the changes in the print media sectors of the, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland during the 1990s. It analyses the processes and features of the post-communist transformation from a political economy point of view. The analysis focuses on three main print media sectors: newspaper, magazine and book publishing. The research includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis, the former containing an interview survey, and the latter examining market developments. A model is developed as an analytical framework, which provides a theoretical contribution to the subject area and underpins the structure of the thesis. The study identifies the main processes of post-communist system change and examines the differences and similarities between the three countries and between the various print media sectors. The features of the communist and the post-communist systems of the print media are compared, especially in terms of the changing roles of the print media and of the main 'actors', such as the state, political forces, the audiences and the companies. The study explores the different stages of the changes in the print media sectors during the 1990s, and argues that the system change was a dynamic process. The research contributes to a greater understanding of the post-communist changes in the media sectors in East Central Europe.