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The right to information: Strengthening democracy, good governance & development Pippa Norris Democratic Governance Group/UNDP www.und.org/governance/ Structure I. II. III. IV. Claims for the right to information Comparing freedom of the press The impact of the free press Conclusions The right to information “Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated” » UN General Assembly, (1946) Resolution 59(1), 65th Plenary Meeting, December 14. “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” » Universal Declaration of Human Rights Art 19 Why a right to information? Intrinsic value of freedom of information • Promotes other human rights Instrumental value of freedom of information for achieving the Millennium Development Goals • • • • • • Open government generates accountability of decision-making process Transparency reduces corruption Promotes responsive government by highlighting issues of public concern and human need Empowers participation by the poor Promotes public deliberation and informed electoral choices May possibly bolster trust and confidence in government Rights implemented by direct access of individual citizens and indirect information through freedom of the press II:Comparing freedom of the press Indicators Measures of press freedom – Freedom House • Press Freedom Index (1992-2005) – Reporters Without Borders • Press Freedom Index, 2004 FH Index of Press Freedom Freedom House Press Freedom Index (100 points) in 191 nations 1. The structure of the news-delivery system: • 2. The degree of political influence • 3. Control over the content of the news systems. (0-15) The economic influences on news content by the government or private entrepreneurs. • 4. The laws and administrative decisions and their influence on the content of the news media. (0-15) Governmental control of newsprint, official advertising, or other financial relationships; or from pressure on media content from market competition in the private sector. (0-15) Actual violations against the media • Including murder, physical attack, harassment, and censorship. (0-5). Source: Freedom House 1992-2005 www.freedomhouse.org Measures of press freedom Neth Sing Press Freedom 2004 (Reporters without Borders) 100.0 Bos ElSal Ben Bots Fr NZ Swe Jam Belg Burk Jap Nic Togo Niger Mali SAra Ven Arm Tanz Rom Arg Burun G-Biss Sene Uga Guin Sp Les Rwan Zam Mala Phil Ethi Nigeria India Hait Col Equ Sol Maur CongDR Yem 80.0 60.0 Uzb 40.0 Ukr Bela CD'Ivo Zim 20.0 Iran Dji undp classification of society (undp 2003) high development moderate development low development Fit line for Total SLeo Pak Mald STom Nep Viet Erit China 0.0 Bur Turkm R Sq Cubic =0.617 Cuba -20.0 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 Press freedom 2004 (Freedom House) 100.0 Press freedom by global region 85 80 70 62 58 60 51 50 44 40 39 40 29 30 20 10 Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org st at es A ra b a as tA si E S ou th As i a fr i ca C & E & si a S E A A ur op e P .E ac i fic m er ic a A La tin tri al iz ed 0 In du s FH Press Freedom Index, 2005 90 Global Press Freedom Press freedom 2004 (FH) 72to92 (65) 38to72 (57) 2 to38 (66) Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org Press freedom by income Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org What is the impact of the free press on good governance and democracy? Global comparisons – Kaufmann et al/ World bank indicators of good governance – Democratic indicators by Polity IV, Vanhanen, and Cheibub Conditions – GDP, colonial heritage, regional diffusion, ethnic fractionalization Free press & democracy Table 1: The free press and democracy Constitutional democracy Polity IV b Press Freedom se Participatory democracy Vanhanen p b se p Contested democracy Przeworski et al/ Cheibub and Gandhi b (se) p 1.23 .102 *** .436 .066 *** .073 .013 *** .000 -6.13 -10.68 -22.2 .000 .000 4.62 6.88 8.41 .000 N/s N/s N/s *** N/s .000 -6.69 -1.48 -21.1 .000 .000 2.59 4.91 5.08 .000 *** ** N/s *** N/s .000 -.362 -1.68 -1.08 .000 .000 .497 .969 .893 .000 N/s N/s * N/s N/s CONTROLS Log GDP/Capita Ex-British colony Middle East Ethnic fractionalization Population size Constant N. of countries 2 Adjusted R 3.10 142 .673 2.1 150 .558 -2.57 181 .568 Note: Entries for Constitutional Democracy and Participatory Democracy 100-pointscales are unstandardized OLS regression coefficients (with their standard errors in parenthesis) for the crossnational analysis in 2002. The entries for Contested Democracy are logistic regression. For details of all the variables, see Technical Appendix A. Significant at * the 0.10 level, ** the 0.05 level, and *** the 0.01 level. Press Freedom by democracy Source: Freedom House Index of Press Freedom, 2005 www.freedomhouse.org Free press & good governance Table 2: The free press and good governance Political stability b Press Freedom se p Government effectiveness b se p Regulatory quality b (se) p .013 .003 *** .013 .002 *** .017 .002 *** Log GDP/Capita Ex-British colony Middle East Ethnic fractionalization Population size .000 .010 .164 -.948 .000 .000 .128 .211 .243 .000 *** N/s N/s *** N/s .000 .115 .360 -.428 .000 .000 .083 .144 .157 .000 *** N/s ** *** N/s .000 .059 .276 -.347 .000 .000 .088 .153 .167 .000 *** N/s N/s * N/s Constant N. of countries 2 Adjusted R -.475 163 .45 CONTROLS b Press Freedom -.982 172 .74 Rule of Law se p b .689 Corruption se p .014 .002 *** .012 .002 *** .000 .169 .536 -.551 .000 .000 .078 .135 .147 .000 *** * *** *** N/s .000 .073 .296 -.466 .000 .000 .089 .153 .168 .000 *** N/s * *** N/s CONTROLS Log GDP/Capita Ex-British colony Middle East Ethnic fractionalization Population size Constant -1.01 N. of countries 172 170 2 Adjusted R .77 .73 Note: The indicators of good governance are from Daniel Kaufmann, Daniel, Aart Kraay, and M. Mastruzzi. May 2003. ‘Governance Matters III: Governance Indicators 1996-2002.’ http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/pubs/govmatters3.html Entries are unstandardized OLS regression coefficients (with their standard errors in parenthesis) for the cross-national analysis. For details of all the variables, see Technical Appendix A. Significant at * the 0.10 level, ** the 0.05 level, and *** the 0.01 level. Conclusions Key findings: • Press freedom is directly related to democratization • Press freedom matters for many aspects of good governance • Is freedom of information indirectly linked to human development: next steps in research Next steps If important, how is freedom of information best achieved? – Freedom of information legislation – An enabling policy framework for regulating the media – Public demands for access to official information – Liberalization of media ownership