Arms of the state

Parliament/Law making

• Role: make laws or policies; regulate media, business, etc.

Executive

• Role: administer policy; drive community & national development

Judiciary

• Role: administer justice; uphold the rule of law

Media (Fourth Estate)

• Private/Public media; watchdog of the state
• Adversarial by design; aligns with free press/libertarian ideas (McQuail, 1997)

Theoretical framing

• Adversarial model: media checks state power
• Free press / Libertarian theory: minimal government interference in media