Eastcast

In 2020, major protests erupted in Belarus after the presidential election. However, they were violently supressed by the government and since then the authoritarian regime in the country has become even more restrictive. Social media played a crucial role in these protests. How exactly did they help organize the protest despite of the Internet shutdown in the country? Do social media still have a democratizing effect on the society? What is the situation in Belarus now, in the beginning of 2022, and what are the perspectives for the digital activism country?

Dr. Aliaksandr Herasimenka from the Oxford Internet Institute talks among other things about the role Telegram played for protesters and about the power of social media that can challenge authoritarian regimes. The episode is hosted by Michelle Laschinski, Lucia Cecilia Magro and Antonia Vollbrecht.

The media landscape in the Czech Republic has undergone a major shift in the last decade and the changes are still ongoing. A new government after the election in 2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are some of many factors to take into consideration when talking about today’s Czech media.

In this episode, Ruolin Wu and Truls Hovelstuen talk to Dr. Jan Motal, associate professor at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Masaryk University, about the latest developments on the media landscape of the Czech Republic.

Is there a spark of hope for Hungary’s media freedom on the horizon? In this episode, Lisa Barsig and Christina Bayer talk to Dr. Claudia-Yvette Matthes about the current state of media system and political communication in the country as well as about a possible window of opportunity for freedom of speech in the wake of the parliamentary elections in April 2022.

Dr. Claudia-Yvette Matthes is Director of International MA Programmes at the Chair of Comparative Democracy and Political Systems of Eastern Europe, Humboldt University of Berlin.

How do social media affect journalism in Albania? Are the consequences of the country’s communist past still tangible today? Do journalists experience (self)-censorship and how do they deal with it? Angelo Haruni, TV journalist and reporter for the Albanian news network A2CNN, talks with Kyara Durlinger and Jill Schoeters about Albanian media landscape and its perspectives in comparison with the other Balkan countries.