Europeanization of the Slovak Media Policy

Bc. Martin ŽIGO

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The topic of the thesis was the Europeanization of the Slovak media policy. The main aim of this master thesis is to examine the role of the European Union as an actor in the process of Europeanization of national media policies - and thus to find out how the EU influences the media policies of the Member States. The thesis consisted of four chapters in total. In this thesis we found that in recent years there has been a significant Europeanization of Slovak media policy. We point this out in the case of new media acts, which have incorporated the requirements of the amended AVMS Directive, but also other legally binding EU documents that do not directly concern the media. This media legislation has also been influenced by soft law instruments, in particular EC recommendations. However, the impact of soft law instruments depends to a large extent on the willingness of the government or NGOs to implement them. Interestingly, some provisions of the European Freedom of the Media Act, which has not yet been adopted, have also been incorporated into the legislation. The thesis is important because there is no comprehensive literature examining the impact of the EU on Slovak media policy and legislation.

Abstract:

The topic of the thesis was the Europeanization of the Slovak media policy. The main aim of this master thesis is to examine the role of the European Union as an actor in the process of Europeanization of national media policies - and thus to find out how the EU influences the media policies of the Member States. The thesis consisted of four chapters in total. In this thesis we found that in recent years there has been a significant Europeanization of Slovak media policy. We point this out in the case of new media acts, which have incorporated the requirements of the amended AVMS Directive, but also other legally binding EU documents that do not directly concern the media. This media legislation has also been influenced by soft law instruments, in particular EC recommendations. However, the impact of soft law instruments depends to a large extent on the willingness of the government or NGOs to implement them. Interestingly, some provisions of the European Freedom of the Media Act, which has not yet been adopted, have also been incorporated into the legislation. The thesis is important because there is no comprehensive literature examining the impact of the EU on Slovak media policy and legislation.

Keywords

European Media Policy, Slovakia, Europeanization, legislation, hard law, soft law

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 2. 1. 2024

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Lucie Tungul, Ph.D., M.A.

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Law

Master programme / field:
Political Science / European Studies Focusing on European Law