Hybrid Regimes, Hybrid Media: Contesting Public Debate in Times of Uncertainty

What is the room for media agency in hybrid regime contexts? Existing literature on democratization and hybrid regimes has mainly focused on the media as an indicator for democratic development; other studies have been concerned with the manipulation of the media by political elites, in particular during elections or in campaigns to mobilize nationalist or ethnic divisions. We foreground the uncertainty for both regime elites and the media that results from hybrid regimes. Even though there is no doubt that press freedom is severely restricted in hybrid regimes, the emphasis on media manipulation by powerful political actors overlooks the considerable degree of agency media organizations and journalists possess in shaping the public discourse. We adopt the system theoretical approach developed by Blumler and Gurevitch (1995) which emphasizes the notion of interdependency between political and media actors. This approach provides an effective framework to analyze the media-politics nexus in transitional and hybrid regimes. By emphasizing mutual dependency, the system-theoretical approach to political communication sets itself apart from two other approaches in the literature: the adversarial model of journalism that sees the media as fundamental antagonists of political power, and the elite manipulation model that regards the media merely as tools of propaganda in the hands of autocratic elites. In the empirical part of the paper we first treat the issue of private ownership, which is an ambiguous one in hybrid contexts. The state media is not necessarily the most manipulative ones. Instead, they are relegated to the background, while ownership of media becomes a part of the political strategy of different political elites. This reality has consequences for our second issue: journalistic practices. As they negotiate the contradictions between professional norms on the one hand and political demands from powerful funders on the other, journalists develop various strategies to stay relevant to the public. The different strategies focusing either on impact or on protecting their integrity lead to strong tensions within the field of media itself. However, the uncertainty and insecurity are mutual. Political actors are not able to control or manipulate the media to the extent they would have preferred. With irregular intervals, they lose control over the news agenda and journalistic coverage, threatening their political positions. In addition, journalists may also take advantage of the relative freedom within a hybrid regime to organize and act collectively. The discussion builds on two case studies from the Arab world: Tunisia and Lebanon. We draw on more than forty in-depth interviews with journalists and other media professionals from both countries as well as in-depth analysis of television and print media news from both countries. The data were gathered from 2015-2019.