Opaqueness and concentration of media ownership in Eastern Europe and the Balkans accounts for many obstacles to independent and plural media. OCCRP with its local partners conducted in depth analysis of media ownership structure in 11 countries in the region, finding many instances of media owned by politicians or politically involved persons and a significant number of cases in which organized crime figures are involved in the ownership structure of media.
A total amount of 530 media outlets have been taken into consideration, out of which 216 present a non-transparent ownership structure. 144 of the examined outlets have political connections and 54 of them are connected to organized crime.
Each media outlet has been examined taking into account the transparency of media ownership, its connections to politics and/or organized crime. An ownership tree summary details the names of the companies and individuals involved.
Tags: Bosnia Herzegovina Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary North Macedonia Moldova Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine Media ownership Media pluralism