Linking Global Press Freedom to Development and Culture: Implications from a Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This study attempts to clarify the relationship between development and press freedom, and the role of culture in determining press freedom throughout the world. Moreover, the study explores differences in the results, based on analysis using alternative leading press freedom indices (Freedom House and Reporters Sans Frontieres), to gauge the influence of the indices themselves in forming conclusions. According to the results, the link between development and press freedom is not established conclusively. The two press freedom indices produce divergent, even contradictory, results. The findings speak to the necessity for continued refinement of quantitative measures, particularly when addressing matters as subtle as global press freedom. The field of development communication is heavily influenced by modernization theories. This paradigm identifies media participation, with accompanying press freedom as another facet of development (Burrowes, 1996; Gunaratne, 2002). Press freedom and development are believed to go hand in hand. Research, however, has inadequately examined this assumption. Consequently, it remains empirically unproven whether press freedom is a product of development, a stimulus, or irrelevant to it (Stevenson, 2003).