An Autocrat’s Guide to Destroying Local Media, Part 2

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

In Part 1, you learned how illiberal regimes have used the political tools at their disposal – and their rich friends – to turn the media outlets of democratic European countries into propaganda machines. In Part 2 we’re exploring the legal tools needed to complete the job and talking to local journalists who found themselves on the receiving end of these takeovers. Finally, we’re asking: how can you stop a wannabe autocrat doing this in *your* country?

This series was funded by Journalism Fund Europe, the Allianz Foundation, and supporters of The Europeans.

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Credits

Reporters: Viktória Serdült, Dimitar Ganev and Wojciech Oleksiak

Writers: Wojciech Oleksiak and Dimitar Ganev

Production, scoring, sound design and mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Editors: Adam Zulawski and Katy Lee

Editorial support: Katz Laszlo and Dominic Kraemer

Director of recording sessions: Dominic Kraemer

Artwork: RTiiiKA

Thanks for talking to us: Vesislava Antonova, Ervin Gűth, Antal Józing, Zuzanna Nowicka, Venelina Popova, Anna Wójcik, Spas Spassov, Marek Twaróg, Ágnes Urbán, and Cezary Węgliński.⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | Bluesky | ⁠⁠Twitter | [e-mail]