Media Freedom: What Matters?

Why do we care about media freedom? There are various answers to this question, including the intrinsic value many place on freedom of expression. From the perspective of much democratic (and, increasingly, non-democratic) theory, however, media freedom is a means to an end rather than the end itself. The presence of free media is presumed to imply better decision making by the general populace, one effect of which is greater accountability of rulers to citizens.