Global study questions press freedom

“While people generally support a free media, the Western view of the necessity of a free press to ensure a fair society is not universally shared across all regions of the world,” said Doug Miller, president of GlobeScan, one of the polling services contracted by the BBC World Service. Interviews, sometimes person-to-person and sometimes by telephone, were conducted by GlobeScan and Synovate between October 1st and November 21st. More than 11 thousand people in 14 countries were asked how they perceive the press they want and the press they get.

A free press is very important to insure a free society, said a bit more than half (56%) of those surveyed. Controlling the press, said two out of five (40%), is important for “social harmony and peace.” A bit more than half (56%) of those polled said the press in their country is free while only 19% said their country’s have little of no press freedom. Regional and country-to-country comparisons, limited by the number and selection of countries, offer a rich analysis of the perception of press freedom. The countries in which the survey was conducted are all large, with the exception of Singapore, and reasonably representative.

Respondents in the three countries representing the developed West – the United States, Great Britain and Germany – share the highest level of support for press freedom, responses being nearly identical. At the same time, those surveyed were ‘neutral’ on news organizations’ performance. About 30% of respondents from the United States and Great Britain said news organizations were doing a ‘good job,’ showing no significant difference between private and public sector outlets. German respondents were considerably more positive about the performance of public sector media than private sector news outlets.

Freedom of the press marches hand in hand with freedom of speech among these countries and criticism of public and private institutions is generally welcomed and considered healthy in a free society. But the ‘neutral’ ascertainment of press outlets in Germany, the United States and Great Britain is telling. Between 44% (Great Britain) and 37% (the United States) felt their private sector news organizations were about average. Between 43% (Great Britain) and 34% (the United States) rated their public sector news outlets as average. Virtually all news outlets in the United States are in the private sector, non-commercial television network PBS and non-commercial radio network NPR being the major exceptions. The print media organizations in Great Britain and Germany are overwhelmingly in the private sector. The publicly funded BBC is considered the primary radio and television news source in Great Britain. German public broadcasters compete robustly with private broadcasters as news and information sources.

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Media owners’ interference with news content was considered a major issue among respondents in eight out of the 14 countries. Majorities in the West - United States (74%), Great Britain (71%) and Germany (66%) – were concerned about media owners’ political views influencing news content. Respondents in Latin America expressed even greater concern – 80% in Brazil and 76% in Mexico. Far less concerned about the influence of media owners on new content were respondents in Egypt (40%) and the UAE (38%). Very telling was the ‘no response’ to this question, a signal of many issues: Russia and Singapore – 16%, India – 13%, Germany – 12%, compared with 4% in the United States (the margin of error) and 1% in Brazil and Mexico.

Media ownership, particularly media concentration, has become a surprising issue in the United States of late. The BBC poll reinforces a prevailing attitude in the US that ‘something’ isn’t quite right, and it cuts through all political interests. US media owners have been lobbying the government for looser ownership rules, greater concentration. The media regulator – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – has tepidly held hearings across the country and found, to its market-liberal surprise, considerable opposition to relaxing ownership rules. From the banning of government-critical songs by one media owner to talk shows bordering on ‘hate radio’ to perceived ‘liberal conspiracy’ the US public is in doubt about its news outlets.

The results for three countries are of particular note – Venezuela, Russia and South Africa.

The government of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was dealt a major set-back in recent elections. Chavez closed a major opposition television channel, noted world-wide but also in Venezuela. In the BBC poll, 60% of Venezuelans said media owners exert too much control over news content. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said press freedom is important for a free society.

Russian attitudes toward media – and everything else – are widely followed. The BBC poll supports the conventional wisdom that Russians are far more interested in stability than press freedom. Russians, unsurprisingly noting the history of the last 80 years, are not particularly interested in ‘having their say’ in news decisions. Russians, generally, view their media outlets as ‘about average.’

It appears, from the BBC poll as well as anecdotal evidence, that South Africans are become quite ‘Westernized’ in their attitudes toward media. Reports of untoward government influence at public broadcaster SABC certainly fuels a general belief that publicly funded media performs poorly (39%). South Africans say that private sector news outlets perform better (68%) than public out lets. And South Africans believe (63%) that press freedom is important, regardless of the consequence.

The poll was conducted as part of the 75th Anniversary of the BBC World Service and its polls’ release (December 10) coincides with the International Day of Human Rights.

Global study questions press freedom

Press freedom is a fundamental human right, so the Convention says. Ask people, though, and that Western view of a free press is sometimes muted. A global poll commissioned by the BBC World Service points to the striking relationship between the exercise of free press and its popular support.