Democracy or polyarchy? US-funded media developments in Afghanistan and Iraq post 9/11

Most media scholars that analyse post 9/11 events in Afghanistan and Iraq base their research predominantly on how both wars were represented in Western media sources. This study, however, will not discuss media coverage but instead will focus on a much neglected issue: the foreign support system provided to indigenous media outlets in both Afghanistan and Iraq. More specifically, it will critique the influence of US-based democracy promoting organizations on the development of potentially independent media outlets. These organizations, like the National Endowment for Democracy, often play an integral role in shaping the media environments of foreign countries; however, their motives for promoting democracy are at best ambiguous and in some cases even counterproductive. Evidence provided in this paper supports the contention that the main goal of various 'democratic' activities is not to encourage deliberative forms of democracy, but to promote low-intensity democracy or polyarchy instead.