This book presents and analyzes the development of Mass Media (MM) in southern Europe, namely Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, as well as the relationship of this development with the political history of the respective countries.
Although this study is not a detailed history of developments in mass communication in Southern Europe, it attempts, through a historically oriented comparative analysis, to identify common characteristics, as well as certain constants of communication systems in these countries.
It focuses on how socio-political conditions, circumstances, and historical peculiarities have influenced the development, structure, and functioning of the communication systems in these countries, and examines the structure of the media markets, the relationships between the media and political parties, the level of development of the journalistic profession, and the form of state intervention in the communication field.
It argues that the "legacy" of clientelist relationships has variously influenced the development, structure, and practices of the media in southern Europe and continues to affect, despite globalization, the developments in the European Union.
[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]
