ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how political systems shape media freedom differentiating two mechanisms. It reviews relevant studies and identifies favourable and adverse political conditions for the media. The chapter outlines future research avenues and discusses the effects of increasing Internet use on media freedom. There are indications that the spread of the Internet yet again reconfigures state-media relations. Normative liberal perspectives conceptualise the press as a Fourth Estate that keeps the government in check, sets the political agenda, distributes political information and presents diverse political viewpoints to the public. Academics from several disciplines have studied how political systems shape the media. The chapter provides several mechanisms of how characteristics of political systems affect media freedom. A substantial body of literature, especially from political economy, concentrates on the economic environment of the media. There are indications that authoritarian regimes restrict the coverage of traditional media in order to compensate for the availability of additional sources of information on the Internet.
