MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY.

This paper relates to the role of the media in democratizing societies. The analysis of the Reuters Institute for Journalist Studies finds that researchers have different understandings over the democratization and this derives from the reason of having different ways of understanding what democracy is . The definition of democracy may even range from the minimal need to conduct free elections all the way to the definitions that underline different forms of participations. Democratization may best be understood as a complex and long-term, dynamic and open process that is consisted of progress towards a more participatory politics for more justice and consensus. This requires two different approaches. First approach is focused on the conditions that need to precede the democratization in search of internal and international factors that make it possible for the democratization to start and be successful. The second one focuses on the democratizing processes that emphasize the more approximate reasons rather than the long-term. In any case, democratic transitions represent a hybrid regime where the institutions of the previous regime cohabit with those of the new state and often autocrats and democrats share power, whereas the democratic consolidation refers to the challenges to make new democracies secure. A third possible approach may be referred to the aspects of democracy in countries that aren't subject of a destabilization threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]