Page 153 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Global Political Communication

Table 6.3 Mean Scores on Good Governance Indicators by Type of Media System

Political Rule of Government
Type of Media System N. Stability Law Efficiency Corruption
Limited access to nonfree press 59 −.65 −.63 −.65 −.60
Limited access to free press 22 −.28 −.16 −.22 −.34
Wide access to nonfree press 17 −.09 .02 −.11 −.22
Wide access to free press 53 .74 .80 .73 .80

Note: See technical appendix for details.

relationship across all the different indicators of human development
and good governance is striking.
The relationship between the typology of media systems and these in-
dicators are illustrated in Tables 6.3 and 6.4. The results confirm that the
fifty-two societies with widespread access to the free press consistently
scored far higher than all other media systems across all the indicators
of good governance and human development: people living in these
nations have more stable political systems, more efficient government
processes, and less corruption, as well as living longer, with greater afflu-
ence, and more economic equality. In sharp contrast, countries lacking
an independent press and public access to mass communications scored
consistently worst across all these indicators. Media matters, both for its
own sake, and for development.

CONCLUSIONS: STRENGTHENING CHANNELS OF VOICE
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The lessons from this analysis suggest that strengthening the channels
of communication is vital for development, particularly for electoral
democracies that are in the process of establishing more effective polit-
ical and economic institutions. It is widely assumed that a free press is
necessary for social and political development, although this proposition
is rarely tested in any systematic fashion. Because many studies are con-
ducted within affluent societies, where newspapers and television are
widely available, the basic issue of access to the mass media is rarely
linked explicitly to issues of how the press functions within a democracy.
The results indicate that those societies characterized by both press free-
dom and widespread access to the mass media are characterized by many
indicators of good governance and human development. The reason, it

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