A Scoping Review of Press Freedom in Transitional Democracies

Press freedom can be used as one of the indicators of a country’s democratic quality, as journalists often bear the brunt of authoritarian backlash. Several studies have already examined the impact of political regime transitions on the media. However, most of those studies frequently focus on a specific country or region. A comprehensive synthesis of fragmented research findings was lacking. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review of the literature indexed in Scopus, resulting in a total sample of 44 papers with a primary focus on press freedom in transitional democracies. A close reading and comparison of the articles revealed that the three most frequently mentioned threats to press freedom are state control and censorship, economic and financial pressures, and political influence and parallelism. Findings also suggest that while Global South contexts are well represented, particularly Latin America, Africa, and Asia, there is a disproportionate focus on post-socialist and transitional societies in Eastern Europe. Additionally, the role of digital media in promoting press freedom in fragile states remains under-researched. This study also provides recommendations for journalists and policymakers, while identifying areas for future inquiry.