New Europe’s Civil Society, Democracy, and the Media Thirteen Years After

Abstract

In terms of the quality of democracy, the Czech Republic is under performing. Czech media are a significant factor in the process. Recently, most of the formerly serious Czech journalism has moved into infotainment. Moreover, it is influenced by the nostalgia for communist times. Complicit in perpetuating the communist taste, the media harm the nascent civil society. The most relevant aspect of civil society in this article pertains to its ability to provide citizens with a broad range of resources to develop their talents. By promoting and further developing the cultural expression infused by communist taste, the media flatten public life around the stale mainstream. In a small, relatively poor, and culturally homogeneous market and society hampered by a residual civic passivity, the media deprive citizens of a broad range of cultural resources and slow down their pursuit of a greater equality and freedom.