China, now the world’s second-largest economy and a crucial source of global manufacturing and investment, would seem to belie any link between press freedom and economic success. And yet a fundamental lesson of the surge in financial volatility that began last summer is that state-controlled information is often bad information. Investors, it seems, have begun to appreciate the risk of doing business in an economic and business environment that they cannot fully understand.
Chinese media organizations are under constant scrutiny by the authorities, and editors have chafed at (and even attempted to defy) censorship. Most recently, the South China Morning Post’s Chinese language edition had its social media accounts blocked. Many foreign news websites, ranging from the BBC to Reuters, are routinely blocked from Chinese readers. In 2012, the New York Times website was blocked in China after the paper reported that the extended family of China’s then prime minister, Wen Jiabao, controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.
Similarly, foreign media organizations often cannot investigate Chinese companies and economic activity freely and accurately. Ursula Gauthier, the Beijing correspondent for L’Obs (formerly Le Nouvel Observateur), was forced to leave China in 2015 after the authorities refused to renew her visa. She is far from being the only Western journalist to be “neutralized” in this manner.
Then there are countries that don’t receive as much attention as they should. The ranking of Andorra, a tax haven, in the World Press Freedom Index fell sharply in 2015, because journalists cannot easily secure access to information about the banks operating there. The country suffers a “lack of any legal protection for freedom of information, such as the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.” And what little coverage Andorra’s banks do receive – such as the US Treasury Department’s money-laundering investigation into Banca Privada d’Andorra – has been disturbing.
The list of countries where press freedom is limited or under threat goes on, from Africa and the Middle East to Russia and most of the other ex-Soviet republics. Even the United States is seeing alarming signs, with the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, Donald Trump, directing vitriol – and arguably inciting violence – toward journalists during his campaign rallies. Alarmingly, Trump has said that if elected president, he would change the country’s libel laws in ways that would endanger the free-speech principles enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
An active, engaged, and independent press provides a fundamental public good: the transparency that makes political and economic accountability possible. In an increasingly complex and specialized world, its provision must be supported, protected, and encouraged. Yes, media organizations must find ways to finance worthwhile reporting, investigation, and analysis. Unfortunately, too many countries would be happy to have such problems.
By Lucy P. Marcus – This article is reproduced from Project Syndicate
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