Who Owns the Media?

Djankov, Simeon ; McLeish, Caralee ; Nenova, Tatiana ; Shleifer, Andrei

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES;    ADVERSE EFFECTS;    ADVERTISING;    AGRICULTURE;    AIR;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2620
RP-ID  :  WPS2620

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors examine patterns of mediaownership in 97 countries around the world. They find thatalmost universally the largest media firms are controlled bythe government or by private families. Government ownershipis more pervasive in broadcasting than in the printed media.Government ownership is generally associated with less pressfreedom, fewer political and economic rights, inferiorgovernance, and, most conspicuously, inferior socialoutcomes in education and health. The adverse effects ofgovernment ownership on political and economic freedom arestronger for newspapers than for television. The adverseeffects of government ownership of the media do not appearto be restricted solely to instances of government monopoly.The authors present a range of evidence on the adverseconsequences of state ownership of the media. Stateownership of the media is often argued to be justified onbehalf of the social needs of the disadvantaged. But iftheir findings are correct, increasing private ownership ofthe media--through privatization or by encouraging the entryof privately owned media--can advance a variety of politicaland economic goals, especially those of meeting the socialneeds of the poor.