Mission

Marking CEU’s commitment to play a role in media and communication policy, the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) at the CEU Democracy Institute seeks to improve the quality of media policymaking through research and debate.

What We Do

Research

Research is our core activity. We conduct research about the impact of media and information policy on society and practice, particularly journalism. Besides projects that we generate on our own, we partner with think tanks, academics and journalists to conduct joint research projects and investigations.

The center’s Fellowship Program is envisaged to bolster and feed into our research work. For more information about the fellows we welcome to our center, see the Fellowship Program page.

For more information about our current research priorities, see our 2020-2022 Strategy.

Education

We use our research to teach and explain media policy. The center coordinates course offerings at CEU, provides trainings and organizes exchanges through workshops, lectures and conferences on current developments in the field.

For more information about the lectures and events we organize, see our Events page.

For more information about the courses we offer, see our Courses page.

For more information about participation in the annual Summer School, see our Summer Programs page.

Our research does not only sit on library shelves.

We take the findings of our research into policy debates and forums and share expertise with practitioners, experts and civil society involved in the policy making process.

Expertise

We support regulators and market players by providing them expert analysis about policy and legal developments as well as data and information and about media and journalism.

Our reporting includes:

• Bespoke analysis: firsthand accounts on political changes, regulation and policy developments
• Country profiles and comparative reports: description of regulatory and policy frameworks and analysis of regulatory trends across a range of countries
• Data: information about funding and ownership in media and journalism

For more information on our consultancy services, please contact Marius Dragomir, our center’s director.

History

The CMDS was founded in 2004 as the Center for Media and Communication Studies, an independent research center of Central European University.

In January 2014, the Center joined the CEU’s new School of Public Policy (SPP). In September 2014 was chartered by the Rector. The same month, the center adopted its current name to reflect the interests and expertise of the faculty and staff, particularly in technology policy.

In 2020, the Center joined CEU's new Democracy Institute.