The group focused on identifying key issues relating to corruption and political integrity with particular focus on the effect of government’s power abuse and elite coherence over the media. With growing print, broadcast, and digital media platforms across the developing countries, there is a pervasive shift likely to both opportunities and challenges for electoral persuasion and accountability. On the one hand, greater access to media may provide voters with novel information about the platforms, characteristics, and performance of candidates, or provide candidates and parties with more equal opportunities to reach voters that could help to break down clientelistic or identity-oriented electoral equilibria. In more autocratic regimes, the media could further help to engage and coordinate citizens to pressure governments for the liberalization of democratization. On the contrary, these virtues could be captured by the state or other powerful interests to contain democracy. The study sought to assess the link between media freedom, corruption levels, and erosion of political integrity and to identify the influence of political financing and social capital on free media as a tool to facilitate accountability.
Authored By:
Amanda Obidike; Fedor Sandakov; Muntaha Kamran; Mwaniki Maina; Talha Ahmed Shaikh
