Free Media and Quality of Government: The role of media in promoting quality of government institutions in the European Union

Abstract

While the relationship between freedom of the media and corruption has been established, it is open whether media freedom also contributes to higher quality of government. The basic argument in this article is that previous research has been performed on media freedom and the access to public authority or at best, very specific parts of the way in which that authority is exercised, the relationship between freedom of the media and corruption. This leads to an extensive knowledge of free media’s role on the “input” side but less knowledge in terms of free media’s role on the “out-put” side of government performance. This study examines the relationship between media freedom and quality of government in the 27 member states of the European Union. Two different concepts and measurements of quality of government are utilized (one geared toward less red tape and business friendly environments and one geared toward public services and welfare systems). The results show that free media contributes to high levels of quality of government when defined as “good for business” but not when defined as “good for public services and welfare systems”. In order to create and improve quality of government provided to citizens through public services and welfare systems, this only occurs when media freedom and women’s abilities for political empowerment are increased simultaneously.