ABSTRACT
The chapter empirically relates media system domains—the legal framework for freedom of expression and of information, media accountability, journalism, and audiences' media usage practices and competencies—with deliberative communication, including the contextual factors in the analysis. The method employed was fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) so far rarely used in communication research, but recommended in media systems research. After applying the method to 14 countries from Western and Central and Eastern Europe in the analysis, several paths were discovered that lead to higher or lower levels of deliberative communication and thus represent risks and opportunities posed by media systems for democracy.
