ABSTRACT
The media always takes on the form and coloration of the social structures and the political regime within which it operates (Siebert et al. 1956: 1). As obvious and simple this statement may seem nowadays, it remains a guiding hypothesis of comparative media systems research. But why is this? This chapter critically reviews the main premises introduced drawing on Siebert and his colleagues’ work. Researchers might agree or not with the authors, but the fact is that almost every effort to study the interaction between politics and the media on comparative grounds starts by referring to how crucial differences among political regimes (their ideology, regulatory framework or the kind of citizens’ participation) shape (mainly constrain) media’s goals and functioning. In other words, past and current research on media systems assumes that the particularities of political regimes impose a great influence in media functioning and, more critically, restrain their contributions to civic participation and public debate, just as Four theories of the press established more than a half century ago.
