as particularly true in the later Soviet years, as its infrastructure began to deteriorate the Soviet Union lost the ability to implement its policies not only on its neighbors but on its own people who, most of which, had been reluctantly controlled throughout history with the use of intimidation and fear. Russia was going broke and its majority looked to a systemic change to ease the grip of poverty.As Lerner's theory suggests the starting point of change would lie in the mindset of the people, this would be a particularly tall order for a people who had been isolated from the world around them, all they knew was the Communist way, freedom of thought was a new concept. In the regions surrounding the "hub" this was particularly true due to stringent censorship, but if focus were to move westward one would notice a change, subtle at first, gradually becoming more noticeable as migration neared Central Europe. Western concepts are more evident in these western regions thus the transformation to western ideas would be less alien.As for the media itself, the publication Eastern European Journalism: Before, during and after Communism written by Jerome Aumente, Peter Gross, Ray Hiebert, Owen V. Johnson and Dean Mills in its discussion of Albania cites, "Journalists talked of their amazement as some visited other countries in the bloc or read an interview with a Western editor to see the differences under which they labored" (Aumente et al. 65). Yet citation of the Hungary media situation differs substantially, " . . . 1976-1988 period in Hungary as a time for the "double media system" when a growing number of illegal, independent sources, and channels of social communications competed with the official media" (Aumente et al. 65).The biggest hindrance in the ability of the media in aiding the transition (from Communism) is lack of technology for production, while also manifesting itself in the lack of access that those, either impoverished o...
