Editor’s note: this piece is part of The Fix’s coverage of the 2023 Digital News Report. Check full coverage on our website and subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay updated.

Last week the Reuters Institute of the Study of Journalism released their annual Digital News Report, a major study of online news media. Apart from general analysis, the report includes individual profiles for each of the 46 countries studied.

The study looks at nine countries that can be considered part of the Central and Eastern Europe region: Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania.

CEE publishers face some common challenges, including growing paper costs and high level of news avoidance, but each country has its peculiarities, and some are doing better than others.

The Fix looked at key issues faced by news publishers and other industry trends in CEE countries from the Digital News Report.

Austria – efforts to strengthen quality journalism

During a period of inflation and financial hardship causing difficulties for media markets, the Austrian government is exploring ways to support media, while politicians seek new methods of influencing media outlets, researchers Sergio Sparviero and Josef Trappel write in the report.

According to the report, the Austrian government has been reviewing wider media policy as it applies to the press. “After recent scandals, there are new rules aiming at increasing transparency about how advertising by public institutions (worth €225m in 2021) is allocated to different publishers, following suggestions that political parties and leaders can influence coverage by leveraging advertising spend”, the study states.

There are subsidies of around 8 million euros yearly with an extra 20-25 million euros for media to support quality journalism, as well as content diversity.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – public broadcaster ORF News
14% of country respondents pay for online news
38% have overall trust in news, down from 48% in 2015
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 29/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Bulgaria – the growth of digital

For Bulgarian media now is a time of advancing digital innovations. Media outlets move with the times and are catching up on popular trends on podcasts, YouTube, and TikTok videos, creating their product on different platforms. TV channels stood out in particular.

For instance, bTV, a Bulgarian private nationwide television channel, which has one of the largest audiences in the country, started a Business Video Podcast, hosted by its most popular journalists and editor-in-chief of businessnovinite.bg Spas Stambolski. Guests of the podcast are entrepreneurs, analysts, politicians, and celebrities.

Nova, a Bulgarian free-to-air TV network, went even further, launching a platform that is an alternative to YouTube – Vbox7. This video platform provides the tools for creators to generate their content.

The profile’s author Stefan Antonov writes that Viber and Telegram are gaining traction for news distribution, partly because they open up possibilities to avoid legal restrictions and Facebook regulations. Despite the benefits of social media platforms, “…many have also voiced concerns about the role of social media – as the preferred Russian medium for influence – in the spread of disinformation in Bulgaria”, the report notes.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – free-to-air television network NovaTV News
11% of country respondents pay for online news
28% have overall trust in news, down from 38% in 2018
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 71/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Croatia – press freedom issues

Journalism in Croatia remains a challenging profession, owing to economic factors such as lack of job security amid crises, and attacks on freedom of speech.

Physical attacks are rare, but threats and verbal attacks pose a major issue, researcher Zrinjka Peruško writes in the report. According to the Croatian Journalists Association, in the past years there have been around 900 lawsuits against journalists. The targets are often individual journalists, which leads to self-censorship and has a bad effect on press freedom.

Because of the journalistic investigations covering the corruption in the leading government party HDZ, the state tries to clamp down on leaks to journalists. “The measure would target

leaks by officials to the media of similar content from high-profile corruption investigations”, says the report. These attempts by the government to thwart media investigations have been met with active protest.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – free-to-air television network NovaTV News
8% of country respondents pay for online news
34% have overall trust in news, down from 39% in 2017
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 42/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Czech Republic – cost cuts and lack of government reforms

The Czech advertising market is rebounding towards pre-COVID growth levels, but it’s insufficient in the face of high inflation, the profile’s author Václav Stetka writes.

As in many other countries, this led to layoffs and forced some smaller outlets to stop operating. Public broadcasters have also been impacted by cost-cutting measures – Czech Television has plans to cut 250 employees by 2024; Czech Radio announced 60 redundancies in 2022 and another wave in 2023.

Planned government reforms that would strengthen the media have stalled. The report states that “planned reforms to reinforce the independence of the regulatory bodies – the media councils – by reforming the appointments system have stalled, faced with obstruction by the parliamentary opposition”.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – public television broadcaster Czech TV News
14% of country respondents pay for online news
30% have overall trust in news, down from 39% in 2016
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 14/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Germany – decline of print

Digital is seizing the media market actively, and more media outlets are going from paper print to digital format, researcher Sascha Hölig writes in Germany’s country profile. One of the reasons is the rising cost of paper. The shift leads to job losses – for instance, at Axel Springer, the owner of the German tabloid Bild and one of the country’s leading publishers.

The delivery of daily newspapers was affected as well. Some newspaper brands ceased the delivery because of cost, especially if in smaller cities and rural areas. “Under the coalition agreement between the governing parties, financial support for newspaper delivery was promised but has not yet happened”, the report notes.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – ARD News
11% of country respondents pay for online news
43% have overall trust in news, down from 60% in 2015
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 21/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Hungary – government meddling

Under Viktor Orbán’s government, press freedom in Hungary has infamously deteriorated in recent years, a trend that Orbán’s 2022 election win did nothing to halt.

Researchers Judit Szakács and Eva Bognar write in the country profile that “many media outlets have started downsizing, with some major titles ceasing print publication” following the election, “suggest[ing] a view of the media as a political instrument” (as well as a shift to social media in the government’s PR strategy).

Independent newsrooms are suffering under pressure from government policy and are forced off the air. As an example, in 2021, the government refused to renew the licence of Klubrádió, one of the last independent radio stations – a decision the European Commission is opposing in court.

The high interference of pro-government forces led to decreasing trust in the media among Hungarian readers, and the impact of Russian disinformation has been among the strongest within the European Union.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – RTL News
9% of country respondents pay for online news
25% have overall trust in news, down from 31% in 2016
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 72/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Poland – news avoidance combined with government pressure

Independent news outlets in Poland face a host of challenges, researcher and former journalist Vadim Makarenko writes in the report.

On the one hand, “frightening headlines about Ukraine and the worsening economic climate have led Poles to avoid news and instead turn to entertainment” (a tendency also observed in other countries neighbouring Ukraine). Poland also faces the same economic headwinds as other markets of the region.

In the meanwhile, the government has applied pressure to independent media, both by leveraging advertising spending and by employing the tool of state ownership; for example, state-owned oil company Orlen owns the largest group of regional daily newspapers in the country.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – TVN News
14% of country respondents pay for online news
42% have overall trust in news, down from 56% in 2015
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 57/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Romania – low trust in news, new investments

Romanian respondents of the report have indicated a relatively low level of trust in news, which the profile’s author Raluca-Nicoleta Radu writes can be attributed to broader systemic issues like “party propaganda on public money, blocked investigations, smear campaigns against journalists, and difficult access to public interest information”.

News avoidance, particularly on the topic of Russia’s war against Ukraine, is also a major issue. “Nevertheless, with the Ukraine war on their borders, all newsrooms and all journalists have a publicly stated commitment to covering it well and particularly in verification and identifying fake news”, Radu notes.

At the same time, new investors are entering the market and acquiring promising media outlets. In 2022, Dragoș Vîlcu, a Romanian ad producer and owner of several online media outlets, bought Romania’s first digital-born daily newsroom HotNews. The past year also marked several TV channel launches, including TVR Info and Euronews.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – Pro TV
15% of country respondents pay for online news
32% have overall trust in news, down from 39% in 2017
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 53/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Slovakia – a “turbulent” media scene

Researchers Andrea Chlebcová Hečková and Simon Smith call Slovakia’s media scene “turbulent”, citing “continued attacks on journalists by politicians, incidents of professional and ethical failings, and even espionage”.

On the one hand, 2022 marked the completion of a lauded media reform. At the same time, the country faces issues like a “very low” level of trust in news caused by “decades of interference by business and political leaders”, the authors write.

However, the level of press freedom in the country is generally high, and it rose compared to last year, according to the assessment by Reporters Without Borders.

Key country stats:

The most popular media organisation – TV JOJ
12% of country respondents pay for online news
27% have overall trust in news, the same as in 2017
RSF World Press Freedom Index – 17/180

Read more in the full country profile on the Reuters Institute’s website

Source of the cover photo: https://unsplash.com

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