PRESS SYSTEMS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: IMPEDIMENTS IN THE TRANSITION TO “DEMOCRATIC JOURNALISM” IN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA
Keywords:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, press environment, new media, post-Soviet, press freedom.Abstract
This article examines the contemporary press environment and existing research on the press—including the role of new media in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. In the early 1990s, these successor states emerged from the dismantled Soviet empire to form new governments, press systems, and other national institutions. Each was nominally committed to developing free enterprise-based economies and democratic governance. The article discusses the press after they became part of the U.S.S.R., critiques the three national press environments, and examines how rapid expansion of social media use is blurring traditional definitions of journalism. Last, it concludes that significant obstacles remain to development of functional, effective press systems that can maintain economic and political autonomy and plurality in the South Caucasus.
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