The post‐Stalinist states in Eastern Europe will almost certainly develop a newspaper press that is based on the market. These developments pose some problems for the future of the developing democratic systems. This paper examines the detailed workings of the press market in a situation where advertising revenue is an important element in newspaper finances, using examples from Britain. It is demonstrated that left to itself this market will stratify information provision and fail to provide all citizens with the same quality of information and opinion. In particular, low‐income groups who want access to detailed public information, will not be catered to. To alleviate these problems and to assist in the development of democracy, it is argued that the reconstruction of public communication in Eastern Europe must make use of subsid