With technological change so rapid, and global concerns rivaling the traditionally local focus of most human beings, media assume an ever more important role in our societies. That is particularly true in central and eastern Europe, where journalists and their audience mostly have had a mere three decades to establish and mold independent media that suit or reflect their societies. Just in the weeks since Alison Smale was writing to Ivan on her chosen subject, developments in the former Soviet space – in this case, Belarus, and its Baltic and Polish neighbors, and Russia and Germany over Alexei Navalny – have shown their power to surprise most outside observers, and thus to influence the world. Who is telling this tale, and how?
Alison Smale is a Veteran editor and correspondent at The New York Times, The International Herald, and Associated Press. From September 2020 to June 2021 she is a
Europe’s Futures, Non-Resident Visiting Fellow at the IWM.
