Is freedom of the press required for a liberal democracy

Joshua Barrett

Democracies within states have become more predominant than at any other point in history. Whether this shift is directing towards liberal democracies, however, has yet to be determined. This article focuses on freedom of the press and how it is required for a liberal democracy. Using Mexico as a case study, this paper identifies how a state is unable to excel in its democratic principles without the virtues of a free press. Using the Freedom House dataset, countries are categorized by their level of democracy against their level of free press. Although Mexico holds many democratic values, this paper concludes that a country cannot be truly democratic without adequate freedom of the press.