Authoritarian Influences: Interactivity Within the Hierarchy of Influences Model

In authoritarian contexts, journalism is shaped by more than just state control or self-censorship. This study examines how the five levels of the hierarchy of influences model interact when journalism operates under authoritarian regime. Drawing on in-depth interviews with sixteen journalists from Bangladesh, the findings reveal that these influences collectively transformed journalists into “unquestioning executors,” marked by diminished critical engagement and heightened self-censorship. Media outlets shifted towards commercial priorities, placing advertiser revenue above their normative journalistic responsibilities. The study reinterprets the hierarchy of influences as a system of reinforced alignment, where all levels intensify and echo macro-level control, creating a recursive structure of synchronized constraint. This convergence across levels undermines journalism’s traditional watchdog role and contributes to the systematic subjugation of the press.