The project is proposed to deepen the established cooperation and prepare future joint research of Masaryk University and University of Vienna. It focuses on the parallels and differences of the political journalism cultures in the Czech Republic and Austria. Around the world, journalism is going through a period of exceptional turmoil and transition, often dubbed a crisis. This term highlights the precarious decline of audiences and markets for traditional news and journalistic media, and the challenge to professional roles and practices. While much of the pressures on journalism come from the decline of traditional business models, recent years have seen journalism come under pressure from political pressures, even in highly advanced democratic societies. Journalism has thus become vulnerable to an increasing array of political influences, which are important to take account of in order to assess their influences for journalism and democratic societies. This proposed project aims to explore the varying political pressures – both new and old – which influence journalism in Austria and the Czech Republic. While the two countries are immediate neighbours and share some important characteristics, their different historical trajectories – most notably the history of communism – led to the evolution of important differences in terms of their political journalism cultures. The goal of this project is therefore to explore key differences and similarities between Austrian and Czech political journalism, with a view to developing a proposal for competitive research funding with the two countries’ main funding agencies, the FWF and GAČR. With the key aim of developing a funding application for a larger, cross-national project comparing political journalism cultures in Austria and the Czech Republic, we explore the topic through a series of interactive workshops, lectures and research meetings.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.