Media and Politics in New Democracies - Europe in a Comparative Perspective

Produces a detailed global oversight to help readers understand the media in different regional and soci-political settings An interdisciplinary approach, featuring contributions from a global team of authors This book analyses the relationship between the media and politics in new democracies in Europe and other parts of the world. It does so from both theoretical and empirical angles. How is power being mediated in new democracies? Can media function independently in the unstable and polarised political environment experienced after the fall of autocracy? Do major shifts in economic and ownership structures help or hinder the quality of the media? How much can new media laws alter old journalistic habits and political cultures? And how do new technologies impact the media and democracy? The book examines these questions, drawing on a vast set of data assembled by a large international project. Media and Politics in New Democracies focuses chiefly on new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, but chapters analysing new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are also included. These new democracies represent a variety of what sociologists call 'glocalism': homogenisation and heterogenisation coexist, revealing hybrid models and multiple modernities. It is local culture that assigns meaning to global and regional influences. 'Ideal' liberal models and best practices are being promoted and aspired to, but these models and practices are often being adopted in opaque ways generating results opposite to those intended. The book finds many new democracies to be fragile if not deficient, and tries to show what is really going on in these countries, how they compare to each other, and what they can learn from each other. Readership: Scholars and students interested in Comparative Politics and Media Studies.

INTRODUCTION 1: Jan Zielonka: Fragile Democracy, Volatile Politics, and the Quest for a Free Media MODELS 2: Paolo Mancini: The News Media between Volatility and Hybridization 3: Radoslaw Markowski: Normative and Empirical Models of Democracy 4: Béla Greskovits: Capitalist Diversity and the Media ACTORS 5: Péter Bajomi-Lázár: Political Actors and the Colonisation of the Media 6: Václav Stetka: The Rise of Oligarchs as Media Owners 7: Stanislaw Mocek: Journalists as Critical Change Agents and Popular Disseminators FACTORS 8: Martin Krygier: Good, Bad, and 'Irritant' Laws in New Democracies 9: Ainius Lasas: Daily Democracy: Politics, Media, and Democratic Culture 10: Inka Salovaara: Digital Democracies and Networked Publics CHALLENGES 11: Natalie (Talia) Jomini Stroud: Media Fragmentation and its Consequences for Democracy 12: Aukse Balcytiene: Acceleration of History, Political Instabilities, and Media Change 13: Ruzha Smilova and Daniel Smilov: Informal Politics and Formal Media Structures BENCHMARKS 14: Katrin Voltmer: Converging and Diverging Pathways of Media Transformation 15: José Santana Pereira: Variety of Media Systems in Third-Wave Democracies 16: John Keane: Mediated Despotism: A World Beyond Democracy REGIONAL EXPERIENCES 17: Jairo Lugo-Ocando and Sara García Santamaría: Media, Hegemony, and Polarisation in Latin America 18: Mark R. Thompson: Does the Watchdog need Watching in Southeast Asia? 19: Nicole Stremlau and Iginio Gagliardone: Media, Conflict, and Political Transitions in Africa CONCLUSIONS 20: Terhi Rantanen and Nikola Belakova: Why is it Important to Study the Media and Politics in New Democracies?