Mgr. Peter Hanák Ph.D., LL.M. is a journalist at Aktuality.sk (Ringier) and a university lecturer. He studied journalism (Comenius University) and then law and economics (at universities in Rotterdam, Hamburg and Haifa). The topic of his doctoral research at Charles University Prague was the relationship between media and democracy, media law and its comparative and economic analysis. He invented a new method to measure media concentration across platforms – POMO indicator (Power of Media Owners). As a researcher, he cooperated with the International Press Institute (IPI) and authored their report on Media Capture in Slovakia. From 2020 he serves as a lecturer at the Institute of Economic Sciences, Faculty of Law, Comenius University Bratislava.
As a journalist, Peter has more than 15 years of experience. He worked for a regional weekly, then a daily economic newspaper Hospodárske noviny (2008 – 2011) and the main news of the Slovak public service radio RTVS (2012 – 2018), specializing in domestic politics, justice, education and occasionally during his foreign studies also on foreign reporting. In 2018 he protested against political capture of the public service broadcasting together with more than 60 other journalists from RTVS and subsequently his contract was not prolonged. He founded a successful podcasting department at Aktuality.sk, where currently he is focused on interviews with politicians and experts in his video programme “NA ROVINU”. He has also authored and/or hosted several other podcasts such as the true crime series from Slovak politics “Mafiánsky štát” (Mafia state). The Open Society Fund has awarded him with the national journalism prize twice – for the best news coverage of 2019 and the best podcast of 2020. 
At BISLA Peter is teaching a course in Law&Economics – an economic analysis of law and legal systems. The course confronts the rational choice theory approach with the newer theories of behavioral economics and applies this on empirical legal studies. 
Current research interest: The intersection between media studies, law and economics, democracy, behavioral economics, empirical legal studies
Research projects
Project Oasis – Digital Native Media research conducted by a global NGO Sembra Media, funded by Google News Initiative (2022 – 2023) – researcher
Media Capture in Slovakia – report for the International Press Institute (2022 – 2023)
Media and Media Policy Change in Slovakia and the Czech Republic between 1989 and 1994 – Grant Agency of Charles University (2017)
Comparison of media regulations in EU member states – Grant Agency of Charles University (2016)
Membership
ECREA – European Communication Research and Education Association
IAMCR – International Association of Media and Communication Research