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Presentation Type

Open Access Paper Presentation

Keywords

Freedom of the press--Economic aspects--Africa; Freedom of the press--Economic aspects--Balkan Peninsula; Mass media--Censorship--Economic aspects--Africa; Mass media--Censorship--Economic aspects--Balkan Peninsula;

Abstract

Freedom of intellectual expression and media are human rights that the United Nations argues should be available to all people on Earth. However, we continue to see suppression of the media by various states across the globe. There is plenty of research that examines abuse of human rights, but there is a significant gap in the literature regarding what role economic distribution within a state plays. One of the most common measures of economic dispersion within states is the Gini Coefficient. This places states on a scale from 0, perfect income equality, to 1, perfect income inequality where all of the wealth is in one person’s hands. In this research, data from Reporters Without Borders and the World Bank will be used to help analyze correlations between eight countries, four from both Africa and the Balkans: Angola, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe. By doing research into how Gini Coefficients are correlated with freedom of the press, we can more fully understand how economic conditions impact citizen’s freedom of expression in the press on a macro level. The research hypothesis was that there will be a positive correlation between Gini Coefficient and freedom of the press on an international level. This research produced a statistically significant Pearson’s Correlation of 0.808, showing that the independent variable of Gini Coefficient is positively correlated with the dependent variable of Press Freedom Index. This could be used as the foundation for further research with a larger sample size to apply this regional analysis to the global scale.

Start Date

12-4-2022 10:00 AM

End Date

12-4-2022 10:50 AM

Faculty Advisor

Evan Renfro

Department

Department of Political Science

Student Type

Undergraduate Student

Comments

  • Paper - Download button
  • Major: Political Science and Public Administration
  • Award: Fruehling Undergraduate Research

This entry was a part of the following session:

  • Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
  • Time: 10:00 to 10:50 a.m.
  • Moderator: Emily Machen

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application/pdf

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Apr 12th, 10:00 AM Apr 12th, 10:50 AM

Media Suppression in Africa and the Balkans - How Economic Distribution Impacts Freedom of the Press on an International Level

Freedom of intellectual expression and media are human rights that the United Nations argues should be available to all people on Earth. However, we continue to see suppression of the media by various states across the globe. There is plenty of research that examines abuse of human rights, but there is a significant gap in the literature regarding what role economic distribution within a state plays. One of the most common measures of economic dispersion within states is the Gini Coefficient. This places states on a scale from 0, perfect income equality, to 1, perfect income inequality where all of the wealth is in one person’s hands. In this research, data from Reporters Without Borders and the World Bank will be used to help analyze correlations between eight countries, four from both Africa and the Balkans: Angola, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe. By doing research into how Gini Coefficients are correlated with freedom of the press, we can more fully understand how economic conditions impact citizen’s freedom of expression in the press on a macro level. The research hypothesis was that there will be a positive correlation between Gini Coefficient and freedom of the press on an international level. This research produced a statistically significant Pearson’s Correlation of 0.808, showing that the independent variable of Gini Coefficient is positively correlated with the dependent variable of Press Freedom Index. This could be used as the foundation for further research with a larger sample size to apply this regional analysis to the global scale.