The importance of free media for liberal democracy as demonstrated by selected European countries. An analysis of fundamental indexes of democracy

The aim of this article is to present the state of democracy in selected European countries, both European Union member states and neighbours (including candidate countries). This is carried out on the basis of the best-known indexes of democracy and press (media) freedom, published by the organisations that have developed democracy indexes such as Freedom House (Freedom in the World, Nation in Transit, Freedom of the Press), The Economist Intelligence Unit (Democracy Index), Bertelsmann Stiftung (The Bertelsmann Transformation Index), V- Dem Institute (Democracy Report), and Reporters Without Borders (World Press Freedom Index), an organisation specialising in press freedom. The importance of assessing the level of media freedom in European countries is emphasised as is its impact on overall evaluations of their political systems. In this way, the author attempts to prove the thesis that without legal guarantees of press (media) freedom and governments respecting these principles in practice, no country can be classified as a democracy (much less as a liberal democracy).