Owning the Crisis Narrative: A Scoping Review of Media Ownership, Editorial Framing, and Democratic Accountability in the Global South

Abstract

Political crises increase public dependence on journalism while intensifying efforts by governments, parties, proprietors, and commercial actors to shape event interpretation. This scoping review examines how media ownership influences editorial framing during elections, protests, corruption controversies, geopolitical conflicts, and democratic transitions in the Global South, and considers the implications for democratic accountability. Following established scoping-review and PRISMA-ScR principles, Scopus and Web of Science were searched using terms related to media ownership, editorial production, framing, political crises, and developing or transitional democracies. Thirteen core studies were charted according to ownership configuration, mechanisms of influence, crisis frames, and accountability outcomes. The findings indicate that ownership effects are conditional rather than automatic. Politically affiliated, state-dependent, and concentrated media frequently emphasized stability, incumbent legitimacy, public order, and geopolitical alignment. Independent outlets more often foregrounded protest legitimacy, governance failure, accountability, and political change. Influence operated through owner pressure, centralized editorial control, funding dependence, resource allocation, regulatory weakness, professional risk, shared infrastructures, and organizational ideology. Foreign ownership sometimes protected editorial autonomy but could also encourage commercial depoliticization. The review proposes an integrated model linking ownership configuration, editorial influence, crisis framing, and democratic accountability.