This dissertation examines the transformation of the news media during Mexico's political transition. It finds that freeing the media from state control was not enough to create a free press. Political and economic liberalization changed the incentives and controls on news production, but not all media reacted to the new environment by producing more autonomous and assertive news presenting a diversity of views of the regime. Organizational dynamics mattered more than liberalization when considering the nature and direction of media transformation. Change agents, professional identities and organizational culture determined whether media outlets began to produce news that encouraged participatory citizenship and government accountability, alternatively resisted democratic change altogether, or followed a market-driven path that opened up electoral coverage to actors in the opposition, but created a style of news coverage thought to depoliticize viewers and misattribute responsibility for societal problems The dissertation is innovative theoretically and addresses a gap in understanding of democratic development in Mexico and other new democracies. It applies ideas and techniques from the study of organizations to explaining institutional change in a larger context of political transition and democratic consolidation. Its focus on the transformation of the news media moves work on democratization beyond the study of formal government institutions, elections and traditional intermediaries such as political parties and interest groups to an equally crucial component of political systems that produce horizontal accountability. The methodology combines the quantitative breadth and qualitative depth necessary when seeking explanations for the timing and direction of institutional development. It includes a survey of journalists at a dozen newspapers across Mexico; in-depth interviews of journalists, party spokespeople and government officials conducted during a year of field research in 1999, as well as follow-up visits in 2000 and 2001; participant observation in editorial board meetings, press conferences and reporting interviews; and a small series of focus groups with press officers and advertising specialists
