Media freedom is a crucial element of any functional democracy. This webinar focused on the state of media freedom in central Europe and more particularly in Hungary and Poland.
ASSEDEL had the opportunity to interview two experts of this zone on this pressing issue : Pavol Szalai, Director of the EU/Balkans at Reporters sans Frontières, and Maiting Zhuang, Researcher at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economic.
The webinar was an occasion to discuss the necessity to monitor respect for media freedom not only in central Europe but also in all countries of the Union.
There are the questions we asked during the event:
1) Why is media freedom important in a democratic system?
2) Can you provide an overview of the different challenges to media freedom in Hungary and Poland, and how these experiences reflect broader trends in Central Europe?
3) What are the key drivers or factors contributing to the decline in media freedom in Central Europe?
4) What role does the European Union and other international organizations play in addressing media freedom concerns in Central Europe?
5) How can civil society, journalists, and concerned citizens within Central Europe actively promote and protect media freedom?
6) Media freedom is a topic of global concern, and it’s not limited to Central Europe. How can the experiences in Hungary and Poland serve as a reflection of broader media freedom challenges we see in Western democracies like France, and what lessons can be learned or shared between these regions?