In many European countries, the independence of public service media rises and falls with the political tide. All too often, a new government doesn’t just take power—it takes the newsroom. One of the first moves after an election victory is to pack public broadcasters’ governing bodies with political loyalists, turning watchdogs into lapdogs. Yet, in a few rare cases, new administrations have tried to reverse course, seeking to depoliticize state-controlled media after years of editorial capture.
Written by Rayhan Jasin, this article examines five public media systems—Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Poland—that have recently changed their State Media Monitor (SMM) classification. Drawing on SMM data and additional journalistic sources, it asks: Is there a pattern in how left- and right-wing governments treat public media? Do liberal parties uphold press freedom, while populists dismantle it, or are all parties equally tempted to turn public broadcasters into mouthpieces?
Read the full article on the State Media Monitor project website.