Eleanor Airst

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

Although the relationship between a free press and democracy has long been a central tenet of political science and the study of democratization, our quickly evolving technology and news formats present new issues. New forms of news media both limit and increase the ways in which political elites can interfere with the autonomy of the press. This thesis examines the relationship between the openness of political regimes and the autonomy of the press. Graphs for 158 countries are generated using prominent indices for press freedom and democracy. Based on visual assessment of the trends over time, the countries are categorized by the relationship between the two variables. Several countries are then selected for brief case studies of government involvement in news media and various techniques used to consolidate power by limiting news media freedom. The cases revealed common techniques and conditions, such as legislation allowing for government interference in times of emergency, and power consolidation by the military. Future research should focus on quantitative analysis of the differences in impacts of new and old forms of news media, and investigate whether social media really does spur or help maintain democratization.

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