Factors Affecting Self-Censorship Among Polish Journalists

Agnieszka  Stępińska

Factors Affecting Self-Censorship Among Polish Journalists

Publication date: 21.06.2021

Media Research Issues, 2021, Volume 64, Issue 2 (246), pp. 49 - 63

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.21.010.13475

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Factors Affecting Self-Censorship Among Polish Journalists

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to recognize the factors limiting journalists’ sense of autonomy and affecting the level of their self-censorship during the last three decades of the post-transformation period. The issue will be addressed two-fold. First, we will analyze changes in the journalists’ perception on their professional autonomy. Second, we will examine trends in relations between the political system and media system in Poland since the 1990s. The findings show that in the 1990s journalists were still much more concerned about the political factors which could affect their work than about the economic ones. A decade later they had become much more aware of the economic pressures on their profession, such as owners’ expectations and market-driven journalism. In the last few years, however, the constant pressure of ongoing government reforms aimed at bringing the press under tighter political control, as well as the emphasis on ‘national’ content, has already led to some degree of self-censorship on the part of journalists.

Keywords

journalists, autonomy, self-censorship, Poland, factors

References

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Information

Information: Media Research Issues, 2021, Volume 64, Issue 2 (246), pp. 49 - 63

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.21.010.13475

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Factors Affecting Self-Censorship Among Polish Journalists

English:

Factors Affecting Self-Censorship Among Polish Journalists

Authors

Agnieszka Stępińska

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7361-2986

Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

Published at: 21.06.2021

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Agnieszka Stępińska (Author) - 100%

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English

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