A few weeks ago, I reached a milestone in my PhD journey—I finalized my first article and sent it off to an academic journal. But in the world of academia, “finalized” doesn’t mean “published”. Odds are, I’ll be revisiting this paper again, responding to reviewer comments, making revisions, and refining the arguments. Still, hitting this stage felt like an important moment—one that made me reflect on everything that led up to this point.
While scrolling through the files on my laptop, I stumbled upon a graveyard of abandoned drafts, unused data, and discarded analyses. At least three entire datasets never made it into the final version. Even the dataset I did use contains countless variables that didn’t make the cut. I ran at least five times as many analyses as those featured in the paper—without even counting all the previous versions of the ones that did. And then, of course, the text also went through many revisions. I saved at least five full drafts before reaching the final one, plus an “extra text” document (because you never know when you might need a deleted paragraph, right?) spanning 34 pages and over 10,000 words.
People often compare doing a PhD to running a marathon, and as a runner myself, I couldn’t agree more. Just last week, I ran a 10k with a clear time goal: finishing in under 55 minutes. The most common question I got afterward? “Did you make your time?” Almost no one—especially not fellow runners—asked about the experience of the run itself. Why would they? The journey doesn’t seem to matter as much as the result.
The same applies to academia. No one asks about the unnecessary datasets, discarded drafts, or abandoned analyses that led to a published paper—especially not other academics. And honestly? Even I, as someone who loves data and empirical research, tend to be more interested in the final findings than the behind-the-scenes process.
At the core of my research is a question that feels more relevant than ever: How does authoritarian countries influence others through media, and what impact does it have on democracy? My PhD examines what I call “media authoritarian diffusion”—the spread of authoritarian discourse through media channels affiliated with authoritarian states—and its impact on electoral support for authoritarian parties in post-communist countries. Specifically, I examine how exposure to Russian state-affiliated media influences voting behavior in these regions. My first paper, now in the hands of an academic journal, takes a comparative approach, spanning elections in post-communist Europe and Central Asia from 2010 to 2023.
Stay tuned if you’re curious about the results—because while the journey is fascinating, in the end, it’s the findings that truly matter.