Who Owns the Media?
The authors examine patterns of media ownership in 97 countries around the world. They find that almost universally the largest media firms are controlled by the government or by private families. Government ownership is more pervasive in broadcast...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/06/1490082/owns-media http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19605 |
Summary: | The authors examine patterns of media
ownership in 97 countries around the world. They find that
almost universally the largest media firms are controlled by
the government or by private families. Government ownership
is more pervasive in broadcasting than in the printed media.
Government ownership is generally associated with less press
freedom, fewer political and economic rights, inferior
governance, and, most conspicuously, inferior social
outcomes in education and health. The adverse effects of
government ownership on political and economic freedom are
stronger for newspapers than for television. The adverse
effects of government ownership of the media do not appear
to be restricted solely to instances of government monopoly.
The authors present a range of evidence on the adverse
consequences of state ownership of the media. State
ownership of the media is often argued to be justified on
behalf of the social needs of the disadvantaged. But if
their findings are correct, increasing private ownership of
the media--through privatization or by encouraging the entry
of privately owned media--can advance a variety of political
and economic goals, especially those of meeting the social
needs of the poor. |
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