ABSTRACT
This chapter considers government news management during times of political conflict and crisis. We begin by reviewing various interpretations of state-media relations and the expectations concerning issue management that accompanies each. We then consider two underlying assumptions found in the research literature. The first concerns the existence of a relatively independent (from the state), economically viable, professional news media. Many of the key studies in the field analyze content from the same handful of newspapers and television channels. All of them are powerful, professional news organizations that, while experiencing economic pressures, still command the attention of millions of viewers, buy ink by the barrel and newsprint by the ton, and maintain massive amounts of data on thousands of servers. News organizations of this size and power are the global exception rather than the rule. Instead, across the Global South, and in some cases in the Global North, news organizations are underfunded and reporters are poorly trained and underpaid. Many news organizations are the mouthpieces for the state, political parties, and other elements of the economic and political elite.
