Creeping Toward What? Learning From 21st Century Authoritarian Media Systems

• In Event: When Authoritarianism Rattles Journalism’s Supposed Foundations

Abstract

Authoritarianism is an ideological construct and a set of formal and informal institutions that place authority exclusively to a leader or a small group (Linz, 2000). Nearly all citizens are excluded from having any influence and denied civil liberties (Vaillant, 2012). Authoritarian regimes maintain control through legitimization (actual or perceived support), repression (actual or threatened physical sanctions), and co-optation of strategically relevant actors (Gerschewski, 2013) as well as information control (Schatz, 2009; Whitten-Woodring & James, 2012). But information control and media management in the 21st century is challenging, particularly due to alternative information via the Internet (Hyun & Kim, 2015; Pearce, 2015). This places greater demands on authoritarian leaders who must turn to different information control and media management techniques (Deibert & Rohozinski, 2010; Pearce & Guliyev, 2015). This presentation will provide an overview of contemporary authoritarian media management with a goal of providing a comparison for more democratic environments.

Author

• Katy Elizabeth Pearce, U of Washington