Expanding Perceived Influences Research to Insecure Democracies: How Violence, Public insecurity, Economic Inequality, and Uneven Democratic Performance Shape Journalists’ Work Environments

• In Event: Advancements in Political Journalism Research

Abstract

Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly considered in comparative research on journalists’ work environments, an omission that may obscure important realities of contemporary journalism. We address this with journalist surveys in 62 countries. We confirm the existence of insecure democracies as an empirical phenomenon and begin to unravel their meaning for journalists. We find democracies with uneven democratic quality tend to have higher levels of journalist assassinations and that democratic performance, violence, insecurity and economic inequality significantly shape how much importance journalists attribute to various influences in their work environment. Factors shaping how journalists’ perceive influences on work are therefore more complex and multidimensional than previous research has suggested. Case studies address why these conditions sometimes lead to assassinations and other anti-press violence.

Authors

• Sallie L. Hughes, University of Miami

• Claudia Mellado, Pontificia U Catolica de Valparaiso

• Jesus Antonio Arroyave, U del Norte

• José Luis Benitez, U Centroamericana

• Arnold de Beer, Stellenbosch U

• Miguel Garces, Universidad del Norte

• Katarina Lang, U of Miami

• Mireya Marquez Ramirez, Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City