Twenty-first-century journalism underwent profound transformations under the influence of global crises – pandemics, armed conflicts, information wars, and hybrid threats – which determined the need to reconsider its role as a social institution, a communication mechanism, and a guarantor of democratic values. The purpose of the study was to identify patterns in the transformation of journalism in crisis contexts and to determine models of its adaptation in Eastern European countries. The methodological basis was an interdisciplinary approach combining elements of comparative, content-analytical, and case-study analysis; in particular, the comparative method made it possible to identify differences between national models of crisis journalism in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Romania. The results showed that journalism in crisis conditions lost its purely informative function, transforming into a multi-level system of crisis communications. In the case of Ukraine, a shift was traced from a neutral observer to a subject of information resistance, combining informative, mobilisation, and security functions. Polish journalism demonstrated the potential of civic solidarity and horizontal self-organisation of the media community, which contributed to increased public trust in fact-checking platforms. The Lithuanian model was distinguished by institutional coherence, where state and independent structures interacted within strategic communications, whereas Romania revealed a contradiction between the high institutionalisation of fact-checking and the vulnerability of the media market to political pressure. Comparative analysis identified shared threats – censorship, psychological burnout, economic constraints, disinformation, and ethical dilemmas – which reinforced one another, creating a crisis media ecosystem. Digitalisation proved to be a factor of adaptation, enabling compensation for the destruction of traditional communication channels through the use of social media and fact-checking platforms. Generalisation of the results provided grounds to argue that Eastern European journalism developed a hybrid model of functioning that combined traditional democratic principles with elements of information defence. It was confirmed that successful adaptation of journalism depended not only on technical resources, but also on the level of ethical maturity, professional autonomy, and societal solidarity. The practical significance of the study lay in the possibility of using its results to develop national strategies to enhance information resilience, improve the preparation of journalists for work in crisis conditions, and shape standards of responsible media communication during emergencies
Редзюк et al. (Wed,) studied this question.