Speaking power to the people: Serbian and Brazilian media systems in populist times

A decline in journalistic standards and increased media control, are well recognized hallmarks of increased autocratisation and democratic backsliding. This paper investigates the impact of populism on the media landscape in two different countries, Brazil and Serbia. It argues that despite the radical differences in structural factors (wealth, relationship with the EU, history of democracy, political system, etc.), these countries have witnessed a similar decline in media quality, as well as a decline in the quality of democracy. Using the Serbian case as a ‘standard’ case of populist control and drawing on interviews with Brazilian journalists as a ‘surprising’ case, this paper argues that populist aspiring autocrats will use both ‘hard’ mechanisms of legal control, as well as ‘softer’ methods of ‘anticipatory steering’ to control private media. Overall, this highlights the relevance of research into the structures of media systems themselves in understanding such outcomes.