Dragomir and Rozgonyi Discuss Freedom of Expression in Central and Eastern Europe

CMDS Director Marius Dragomir and a member of our Media Policy Hub Krisztina Rozgonyi discussed freedom of expression at an event organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Berlin, a recording of which is now available.

A part of the Lecture Series Making Sense of the Digital Society, the event started with Marius Dragomir’s presentation. He talked about the evolution of the media and journalism in Central and Eastern Europe. He identified some key trends across the region in the past decades: increasing government control, the concentration of ownership in the media, the instrumentalization of the media, and a delayed embracement of new technologies, culminating in the phenomenon of media capture. He discussed the detrimental impact of these trends and of media capture on independent journalism.

Krisztina Rozgonyi’s presentation contextualized freedom of expression in Central and Eastern Europe. According to her, the tensions of freedom and of expression were not properly mitigated with responsibilities and the realities of the region.

According to her, the public sphere was meant to be freed up from state control once democratization began. The doctrine of freedom of expression was interpreted as a distinguished fundamental right. A generation of young lawyers was trained to believe in the power of truth to prevail within the liberated marketplace of ideas. This has clearly now what happened. She explained how the libertarian regulatory framework had proven incapable and non-resilient in the face of the challenges of the “wild east.”

The presentations were followed by a discussion.