scholarly journals Media Freedom, Political Knowledge, and Participation

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter T Leeson
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Eastern European Countries

This paper examines the relationship between media freedom from government control and citizens' political knowledge, political participation, and voter turnout. To explore these connections, I first examine media freedom and citizens' political knowledge in thirteen central and eastern European countries with data from Freedom House's Freedom of the Press report and the European Commission's Candidate Countries Eurobarometer survey. Next, I consider media freedom and citizens' political participation in 60 countries using data from the World Values Survey. Finally, I investigate media freedom and voter turnout in these same 60 or so countries with data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. I find that where government owns a larger share of media outlets and infrastructure, regulates the media industry more, and does more to control the content of news, citizens are more politically ignorant and apathetic. Where the media is less regulated and there is greater private ownership in the media industry, citizens are more politically knowledgeable and active. These results are robust to sample, specification, and alternative measures of media freedom.

scholarly journals Acute Financial Hardship and Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from the Sequence of Bank Working Days

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
MAX SCHAUB
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Financial Hardship ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Financial Status ◽  
Definitive Answer ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Using Data

How does poverty influence political participation? This question has interested political scientists since the early days of the discipline, but providing a definitive answer has proved difficult. This article focuses on one central aspect of poverty—the experience of acute financial hardship, lasting a few days at a time. Drawing on classic models of political engagement and novel theoretical insights, I argue that by inducing stress, social isolation, and feelings of alienation, acute financial hardship has immediate negative effects on political participation. Inference relies on a natural experiment afforded by the sequence of bank working days that causes short-term financial difficulties for the poor. Using data from three million individuals, personal interviews, and 1,100 elections in Germany, I demonstrate that acute financial hardship reduces both turnout intentions and actual turnout. The results imply that the financial status of the poor on election day can have important consequences for their political representation.

The Dress of Democracy: One Size Does Not Fit All

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-90
Author(s):  
Herman Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Media ◽  
Universal Truth ◽  
The Many ◽  
Normative Models ◽  
Increased Pressure

This chapter considers the link between media and democracy, which is often assumed to be a self-evident and universal truth. The chapter argues that the mismatch between normative models derived from the Global North and the lived realities in African societies is evident in many cases where media have failed to keep governments to account, where the media served sectional interests, and where media ethical norms imported from elsewhere did not adequately speak to African lived experiences. The chapter also notes the many cases of democratic regression in African societies, where the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies has increased pressure on media freedom and consequently on the ability of media to contribute to democratic debate and the deepening of democratic culture. The chapter uses Zimbabwe as an illustration of such repressive government control over the news media that has given rise to alternative forms of media.

Newspaper Readership as a Determinant of Political Knowledge and Activity

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hampden H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
National Election ◽  
Political News ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Different Levels

Using data from 1972, 1976 and 1980 national election surveys, the study supports previous research showing newspaper readership relates strongly to both political knowledge and activity. Although there is a strong relationship for newspaper readership, there is none for viewing political news on television. Finally, the strong relationship between newspaper readership and political participation remains at different levels of social class and education.

scholarly journals A calibrated measure to compare fluctuations of different entities across timescales

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Chołoniewski ◽  
Julian Sienkiewicz ◽  
Naum Dretnik ◽  
Gregor Leban ◽  
Mike Thelwall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scaling Law ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
High Reactivity ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
The Media ◽  
Using Data ◽  
News Outlet ◽  
Fluctuation Scaling ◽  
Associated Variables

AbstractA common way to learn about a system’s properties is to analyze temporal fluctuations in associated variables. However, conclusions based on fluctuations from a single entity can be misleading when used without proper reference to other comparable entities or when examined only on one timescale. Here we introduce a method that uses predictions from a fluctuation scaling law as a benchmark for the observed standard deviations. Differences from the benchmark (residuals) are aggregated across multiple timescales using Principal Component Analysis to reduce data dimensionality. The first component score is a calibrated measure of fluctuations—the reactivityRA of a given entity. We apply our method to activity records from the media industry using data from the Event Registry news aggregator—over 32M articles on selected topics published by over 8000 news outlets. Our approach distinguishes between different news outlet reporting styles: high reactivity points to activity fluctuations larger than expected, reflecting a bursty reporting style, whereas low reactivity suggests a relatively stable reporting style. Combining our method with the political bias detector Media Bias/Fact Check we quantify the relative reporting styles for different topics of mainly US media sources grouped by political orientation. The results suggest that news outlets with a liberal bias tended to be the least reactive while conservative news outlets were the most reactive.

A Note on Overseas Chinese Political Participation in Urban Malaya

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-178
Author(s):  
Alvin Rabushka
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Industrial Societies

The object of this note is to demonstrate that generalizations about political participation may be invalid when applied to “developing” or “transitional” societies. Specifically, the relationship between rates of voter turnout and levels of education for urban Chinese in Malaya is not consistent with results reported for Western societies.A geographical classification of bibliographic entries in Lester Milbrath's Political Participation discloses a very interesting statistic: only 3 of the 288 listed entries concern the transitional societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The lack of data on developing areas may, in large measure, explain the emphasis placed on studies of political participation in North America and Western Europe. Although there is more research on transitional societies today, most studies still focus on advanced industrial societies. The validity of the generalizations presented in Political Participation, therefore, is restricted to North America and Western Europe.Using data collected in Malaya (1957), I examine four of Milbrath's hypotheses. These include:(1) higher education increases participation (p.122);(2) middle-aged persons participate more than young or old persons (p. 134);(3) men are more likely to participate than women (p. 133); and(4) religion affects participation (p. 137).

scholarly journals Pacific Journalism Monographs No 1: Pacific Media Freedom 2011: A status report

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Perrottet ◽  
David Robie
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Monthly Basis ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Military

Pacific media freedom has been under siege for more than a decade, particularly since an attempted coup in Fiji in May 2000, when a television station was attacked and ransacked, a foreign journalist was shot and wounded and a local journalist ended up being imprisoned for treason. Since then various Pacific countries, notably Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu have faced various periods of media repression. Since the military coup in December 2006, Fiji has faced arguably its worst sustained pressure on the media since the original two Rabuka coups in 1987. The Bainimarama regime in June 2010 imposed a Media Industry Development Decree that enforced draconian curbs on journalists and restrictive controls on foreign ownership of the press. This consolidated systematic state censorship of news organisations that had been imposed in April 2009 with the Public Emergency Regulations that have been rolled over on a monthly basis ever since. Promised relaxation of state censorship after the imposition of the Decree never eventuated. This research monograph covers the period 1 July 2010-30 June 2011 and examines the trends in the Pacific region. In addition to Pacific Islands Forum member nations, it covers the French Pacific territories and the former Indonesian colony of East Timor and current twin provinces known collectively as West Papua.

scholarly journals The Fiji media decree: A push towards collaborative journalism

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reggie Dutt
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Media Development ◽  
Developing Nation ◽  
Industry Development ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

This article evaluates Fiji’s Media Industry Development Decree 2010 by drawing a link between it and the Singaporean media laws and the collaborative role the Fijian regime claims journalism should play in the nation’s development. A number of sections of the Fiji Media Decree are similar to the Singapore Media Development Authority Act 2003 and it contains similar harsh fines and jail terms. The Fiji Media Decree makes provisions for a Media Industry Development Authority and a Media Tribunal, both of which are appointed and controlled by the government. The Authority has wide-ranging powers to search, seize and censor, and refer to the Tribunal incidents which it considers are in breach of the decree. The government minister responsible for administering the decree has a direct say in the make-up of the Media Industry Development Authority and may give directions to the Authority in the performance of its duties and the exercise of its powers. This study explores the powers vested in the government via these two proposed bodies and what they will mean for journalism, freedom of speech and media freedom in Fiji. It also shows the merits of a ‘collaborative journalism’ model for a developing nation but explains how the design is flawed under the conditions it has been imposed in Fiji.

Accreditation and Assessment of Journalism Education in Europe

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Journalism Education ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Media

How is journalism training in Europe accredited and assessed? State organisations and the media industry influence the objectives, content and structures of such training through their accreditation. They set quality standards and, at the same time, interfere in its autonomy. Through studies of twelve countries, this volume shows how accreditation influences journalism training in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Russia, Georgia, France, Spain, Hungary and Romania. The second part of the book provides a comparative analysis of these studies, deals with the ACEJMC’s more than seventy years of experience in journalism studies accreditation in the USA and shows how the interdisciplinary accreditation of journalism study programmes is organised in Europe. The editor is a professor of journalism at Jade Hochschule in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Her research focuses on journalism education and media freedom.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL: A better media deal?

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Charu Uppal ◽  
Shailendra Singh ◽  
Patrick Craddock
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Process Technology ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
Developed World

As this edition of Pacific Journalism Review went to press, Fiji was in the throes of conducting a census. Technology is helping the process. Technology is often associated with democratising the political proc- ess, decentralising the status quo, upholding free speech, promoting direct democracy and amplifying voices that often remain silent. Regardless of the potential of technology to deliver these freedoms, the issues that existed before the advent of the internet, e.g. access to technology (affordability and availability, including the issue of electricity in developing nations), user motivation and skill in using these new gadgets still stand. This edition, jointly produced with University of the South Pacific media staff, publishes a series of articles addressing these issues. On Media Freedom Day, 3 May 2006, the Fiji Media Council, assisted by USP’s regional journalism programme, organised a panel on ‘Media and alleviation of poverty’. The panel—men from the developed world who were either connected to the media industry in Fiji, or owned a great stake in it—talked about everything but the media’s role in alleviating poverty.

scholarly journals Media freedom and state control in Tonga

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sione Fatanitavake Vikilani
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
State Control ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

The Tongan Constitution guarantees free speech and media freedom but this guarantee has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted by the media industry, the government and politicians alike. Freedom of speech was integrated into the Constitution from the beginning in 1875. However, as history has shown, this freedom has often been altered to silence opposition and critics’ voices. As early as 1882, the Tongan media had their first confrontation with the government and in 2003 saw a parallel incident unfolding. This article examines the influence of state control on the media in Tonga through an analysis of two case studies from different eras in Tongan history: the Niuvakai newspaper in 1882 and the Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper in 2003.

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