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Corruption and the media have long been playing a dual role. At the same time media is a vital watchdog role by investigating and exposing abuses of power, fostering transparency, and strengthening public accountability, vulnerabilities within journalism can expose media professionals and media organisations to undue political or economic influence and create conditions for media capture. This may occur through ownership concentration, tailored regulations and quid pro quo practices such as bribery, gifts and side payments to journalists and editors, or the exchange of advertising revenue for favourable coverage, compromising editorial independence and distorting the information environment.
Rapid digital transformation has further complicated this relationship. While digital technologies have created unprecedented opportunities for investigative journalism, data-driven reporting, and civic digital oversight, they have also expanded the media ecosystem, introducing new actors, platforms, and channels for producing and disseminating information. These developments have created new vulnerabilities, including heightened risks of media and platform capture, novel forms of corrupt arrangements, algorithmic and information manipulation, and other forms of undue political and economic influence.
This panel invites theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions examining this complex and evolving relationship between corruption and the media across different political systems and regions. We encourage submissions that bridge disciplinary boundaries, develop new conceptual approaches, question existing definitions, or explore under-researched regions and emerging forms of media governance. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, comparative analyses, experiments, computational approaches, and theoretical contributions are all welcome. Researchers at all career stages are encouraged to submit.
Possible topics include:
• Media capture, media influence, and media instrumentalization and their links to corruption
• Platform capture and the relationship between Big Tech and corruption
• The role of journalism in exposing - and participating in - corruption
• Ownership concentration, clientelism, and political influence over the media
• Strategic lawsuits (SLAPPs), intimidation, and violence against journalists and news media outlets investigating corruption
• Factors enabling and counteracting undue influence on news production within the complexity of the current media ecosystem
• The role of diverse actors in shaping corruption-related public discourse and information ecosystems
• Disinformation, propaganda and corruption narratives
• Methodological and conceptual innovations for studying corruption and media