Page 27 - SCANDAL AND DEMOCRACY

12 Introduction

president’s staggering accumulation of wealth, severely damaged his legitimacy and
hastened his fall.
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Framing issues in relation to ongoing contests may contribute little to solving
problems or forming ideal policy. But understanding democratization involves exam-
ining transitional dynamics apart from the anticipation that the process will lead to
good governance. Beyond opening political space and unsettling entrenched regimes,
media focus on scandal, partisan battles, and even elections as horse races can also
contribute to the second (trial) and third (consolidation) phases of postauthoritarian
transition outlined above, in part by increasing the public’s familiarity with and inter-
est in one of the most essential components of democracy—recurring open-ended
contests.
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In the trial phase, particularly in societies accustomed to the suppression of
participation, fostering interest in political contests serves at least two functions:
habituation to key democratic norms and education for the exercise of vigilance.
As Larry Diamond argues, building support for democracy, including the elusive
development of “trust,” takes place largely through successful experience with
democracy. Gaining such experience involves deepening familiarity with demo-
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cratic elections. But as Benedict Anderson notes, “the representative mechanism
[elections] is a rare and moveable feast,” and the “generation of the impersonal
[collective] will is . . . better sought in the diurnal regularities of the imagining
life.” Media exposure is one of those diurnal regularities; consuming a daily bar-
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rage of news filtered through contest frames is, quite possibly, a more penetrating
form of experience with democracy than even the most faithful participation in
more episodic elections.
At a minimum, representations of politics as a series of ongoing contests can rein-
force the values, such as commitment to fair play and intolerance of fixed outcomes,
that we associate with other open contests (e.g., sports and legal disputes)—leading
to the second function of contest frames: educating people for vigilance, specifically in
monitoring the way the democratic game is played. Reporting on scandals, even at the
expense of more substantive coverage, can help normalize the imposition of transpar-
ency as an expected part of media performance and establish openness as an expected
component of democracy.

Secondary Contests
In the third phase of consolidation, the role of scandal and partisan attack goes
beyond the electoral process to highlight the centrality of the infinite series of smaller

contests played out between elections, from factional scuffl es to bruising battles
of revenge that often wield a decisive impact on elections themselves. It is in the

responses of different actors to these smaller contests that consolidation often moves
forward or falters.
In any transition, media coverage that publicizes these smaller contests, though
often sensationalist, can further consolidation in several ways. It can alter the bal-
ance of power among likely contenders in future elections, precipitating possible
turnover in leadership while helping acclimate a citizenry to democracy’s inherent
unpredictability. Though revelations ideally come from journalists or others acting
out of nonpartisan civic responsibility, scandal motivated by revenge or partisanship
can help sustain flux in the balance of power. In either case, the media help normalize
the unpredictability of politics in a democratic system where reputation and public