Maker or Breaker of Democracy: A Comparative Analysis of Modern Media in Autocracies and Democracies

This dissertation examines the use of propaganda in both liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes through a comparative content analysis of election-period media coverage in the United States, France, Russia, and China. Grounded in Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm’s Four Theories of the Press, the research analyses key propaganda characteristics such as attributional framing, signalling, executive tone, and visibility. The study demonstrates that democratic and authoritarian media systems converge in their strategic use of persuasive framing and political alignment.