European Journalism

Abstract

European journalism and media systems are heterogeneous. Several analytical models can be used to describe journalism in Europe. The region features some model countries of press freedom and plurality while others exhibit features of semi‐authoritarian systems. The United Kingdom and the northern European countries share a long‐standing professionalization of journalism with the existence of the respective professional institutions. Public service broadcasting is an important player in both regions. In southern Europe and the democratic central and eastern European countries, journalistic professionalism is rather weak and political parallelism and state and commercial influences in media relatively high. This is even more so in semi‐authoritarian systems in Russia and Turkey, where the media operate under severe restrictions to media freedom and plurality.