![]() ![]() de Tocqueville ( 1990) proposed that the press was “the chief democratic instrument of freedom,” in protecting Americans from the dangers of bureaucratic despotism. Indeed, some have argued that freedom of speech and the ability to petition the government is more important to democracy than democratic institutions ( Mueller 1992). ![]() Freedom of expression in general, and freedom of the press in particular, has long been considered crucial to democracy because the news media provide a fundamental informational linkage between mass publics, elites, and governments. ![]() Indeed, one of the main justifications for freedom of the news media is that a lack of censorship will enable the news media to act as a watchdog over the government and thereby render the government more responsible and responsive ( Kovach and Rosenstiel 2001). ![]() Human rights non-governmental organizations have argued that free news media will help to improve government respect for human rights ( Amnesty International 2006). Specifically, the influence of media freedom on government respect for human rights is negative for the most autocratic regimes and positive for only the most democratic regimes. The question posed here is, how does media freedom affect government respect for these rights? In this article, I theorize that the relationship between media freedom and government respect for human rights differs, depending on the presence of democratic institutions. One of the most widely criticized government behaviors is the violation of physical integrity rights. How this mismatch between regime type and media system influences government behavior is a puzzle worth exploring. While we would expect democracies to have free media and autocracies to have government-controlled media, some democracies have government-controlled media, and some autocracies have free media. A main justification for press freedom is that free media will act as a watchdog over the government. ![]()
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