Transcript Press Freedom Worldwide - Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

The right to information:
Strengthening democracy, good governance & development
Pippa Norris
Democratic Governance Group/UNDP
www.und.org/governance/
Structure
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Claims for the right to information
Comparing freedom of the press
The impact of the free press
Conclusions
The right to information
“Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right
and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United
Nations is consecrated”
» UN General Assembly, (1946) Resolution 59(1), 65th Plenary Meeting, December 14.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers”
» Universal Declaration of Human Rights Art 19
Why a right to information?
Intrinsic value of freedom of information
•
Promotes other human rights
Instrumental value of freedom of information for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals
•
•
•
•
•
•
Open government generates accountability of decision-making process
Transparency reduces corruption
Promotes responsive government by highlighting issues of public
concern and human need
Empowers participation by the poor
Promotes public deliberation and informed electoral choices
May possibly bolster trust and confidence in government
Rights implemented by direct access of individual citizens and
indirect information through freedom of the press
II:Comparing freedom of the press
Indicators
Measures of press freedom
– Freedom House
• Press Freedom Index (1992-2005)
– Reporters Without Borders
• Press Freedom Index, 2004
FH Index of Press Freedom
Freedom House Press Freedom Index (100 points) in 191 nations
1.
The structure of the news-delivery system:
•
2.
The degree of political influence
•
3.
Control over the content of the news systems. (0-15)
The economic influences on news content by the government or private
entrepreneurs.
•
4.
The laws and administrative decisions and their influence on the content of the news media.
(0-15)
Governmental control of newsprint, official advertising, or other financial relationships; or
from pressure on media content from market competition in the private sector. (0-15)
Actual violations against the media
•
Including murder, physical attack, harassment, and censorship. (0-5).
Source: Freedom House 1992-2005 www.freedomhouse.org
Measures of press freedom
Neth
Sing
Press Freedom 2004 (Reporters without Borders)
100.0
Bos
ElSal
Ben
Bots
Fr
NZ
Swe
Jam Belg
Burk
Jap
Nic
Togo Niger
Mali
SAra
Ven Arm Tanz Rom
Arg
Burun
G-Biss
Sene
Uga
Guin
Sp
Les
Rwan
Zam
Mala
Phil
Ethi
Nigeria India
Hait
Col
Equ
Sol
Maur CongDR
Yem
80.0
60.0
Uzb
40.0
Ukr
Bela
CD'Ivo
Zim
20.0
Iran
Dji
undp classification of
society (undp 2003)
high development
moderate
development
low development
Fit line for Total
SLeo
Pak
Mald
STom
Nep
Viet
Erit
China
0.0
Bur
Turkm
R Sq Cubic =0.617
Cuba
-20.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
Press freedom 2004 (Freedom House)
100.0
Press freedom by global region
85
80
70
62
58
60
51
50
44
40
39
40
29
30
20
10
Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org
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FH Press Freedom Index, 2005
90
Global Press Freedom
Press freedom 2004 (FH)
72to92 (65)
38to72 (57)
2 to38 (66)
Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org
Press freedom by income
Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org
What is the impact of the free press on good
governance and democracy?
Global comparisons
– Kaufmann et al/ World bank indicators of good governance
– Democratic indicators by Polity IV, Vanhanen, and Cheibub
Conditions
– GDP, colonial heritage, regional diffusion, ethnic
fractionalization
Free press & democracy
Table 1: The free press and democracy
Constitutional
democracy
Polity IV
b
Press Freedom
se
Participatory
democracy
Vanhanen
p
b
se
p
Contested
democracy
Przeworski et al/
Cheibub and Gandhi
b
(se)
p
1.23
.102
***
.436
.066
***
.073
.013
***
.000
-6.13
-10.68
-22.2
.000
.000
4.62
6.88
8.41
.000
N/s
N/s
N/s
***
N/s
.000
-6.69
-1.48
-21.1
.000
.000
2.59
4.91
5.08
.000
***
**
N/s
***
N/s
.000
-.362
-1.68
-1.08
.000
.000
.497
.969
.893
.000
N/s
N/s
*
N/s
N/s
CONTROLS
Log GDP/Capita
Ex-British colony
Middle East
Ethnic fractionalization
Population size
Constant
N. of countries
2
Adjusted R
3.10
142
.673
2.1
150
.558
-2.57
181
.568
Note: Entries for Constitutional Democracy and Participatory Democracy 100-pointscales are
unstandardized OLS regression coefficients (with their standard errors in parenthesis) for the crossnational analysis in 2002. The entries for Contested Democracy are logistic regression. For details of
all the variables, see Technical Appendix A. Significant at * the 0.10 level, ** the 0.05 level, and *** the
0.01 level.
Press Freedom by democracy
Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org
Free press & good governance
Table 2: The free press and good governance
Political stability
b
Press Freedom
se
p
Government
effectiveness
b
se
p
Regulatory quality
b
(se)
p
.013
.003
***
.013
.002
***
.017
.002
***
Log GDP/Capita
Ex-British colony
Middle East
Ethnic fractionalization
Population size
.000
.010
.164
-.948
.000
.000
.128
.211
.243
.000
***
N/s
N/s
***
N/s
.000
.115
.360
-.428
.000
.000
.083
.144
.157
.000
***
N/s
**
***
N/s
.000
.059
.276
-.347
.000
.000
.088
.153
.167
.000
***
N/s
N/s
*
N/s
Constant
N. of countries
2
Adjusted R
-.475
163
.45
CONTROLS
b
Press Freedom
-.982
172
.74
Rule of Law
se
p
b
.689
Corruption
se
p
.014
.002
***
.012
.002
***
.000
.169
.536
-.551
.000
.000
.078
.135
.147
.000
***
*
***
***
N/s
.000
.073
.296
-.466
.000
.000
.089
.153
.168
.000
***
N/s
*
***
N/s
CONTROLS
Log GDP/Capita
Ex-British colony
Middle East
Ethnic fractionalization
Population size
Constant
-1.01
N. of countries
172
170
2
Adjusted R
.77
.73
Note: The indicators of good governance are from Daniel Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay, and M.
Mastruzzi.
May
2003.
‘Governance
Matters
III:
Governance
Indicators
1996-2002.’
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/pubs/govmatters3.html
Entries are unstandardized OLS regression coefficients (with their standard errors in parenthesis) for
the cross-national analysis. For details of all the variables, see Technical Appendix A. Significant at *
the 0.10 level, ** the 0.05 level, and *** the 0.01 level.
Conclusions
Key findings:
• Press freedom is directly related to
democratization
• Press freedom matters for many aspects of
good governance
• Is freedom of information indirectly linked to
human development: next steps in research
Next steps
If important, how is freedom of information best
achieved?
– Freedom of information legislation
– An enabling policy framework for regulating the
media
– Public demands for access to official information
– Liberalization of media ownership