The EU-funded Mediadem project, which ran for three years from April 2010, explored the factors that promote or hinder the realization of media freedom and independence in 14 European countries.  The countries included in the study  included long-standing EU Member State, such as Germany, Finland and the UK; more recent members, such as Slovakia, Estonia and Croatia; and applicant states such as Turkey.

Edited by Rachael Craufurd Smith, this Special Section on Supporting Free and Independent Media in Europe: Findings from the Mediadem Project,  by academics and experts working in the field, draws on the Mediadem research and focuses on three key themes that were central to the project:  1) The future of public service media provision in Europe and the extent to which international standards can, and  have been, used to direct its development;  2) How journalistic ethics can be nurtured and maintained in today’s highly competitive, and often financially stretched, media markets and 3) the constitutional limits of state regulation and the role of self-regulation in a media environment dominated by powerful private corporations.

The articles thus explore the influence of international and European standards on economically, politically and culturally diverse countries and whether there remains a role for professionalization in supporting independent reporting, given the rise of “citizen journalism” and the increasingly casual and precarious nature of journalists’ employment.

We invite you to read these articles that published in the International Journal of Communication on May 8, 2017.  Please Ctrl+Click on the article titles below for direct linking to the papers of interest.

Findings From the Mediadem Project: Supporting Free and Independent Media in Europe Introduction
Rachael Craufurd Smith

The Freedom and Independence of Public Service Media in Europe: International Standards and Their Domestic Implementation
Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Dia Anagnostou, Rachael Craufurd Smith, Yolande Stolte

Journalistic Autonomy as a Professional Value and Element of Journalism Culture: The European Perspective
Epp Lauk, Halliki Harro-Loit

Of Journalists and Money: The Employment of Journalists in Romania and Its Influence on Media Freedom and Quality
Ioana Avădani

Private Regulation and Freedom of Expression
Fabrizio Cafaggi, Frederica Casarosa, Tony Prosser

Larry Gross
Editor     

Arlene Luck
Managing Editor

Rachael Craufurd Smith
Guest Editor