Media FreedomThe Catch Up Index Findings

What is the Catch Up Index?

• Are the ten “new”, post-communist member states of the EU – the EU10 – catching up with the “old”, “Western” EU members?

• The index registers the level of convergence or divergence along four categories:

Economy, Quality of Life, Democracy and Governance.

• The index also includes the EU candidate and potential candidate countries, so there are 35 countries covered by the index.

Catching up in Media Freedom: The Metrics

• Metrics in Media Freedom – allows comparisons across countries and correlations with other indicators

• Media Freedom is key indicator to measure the Democracy Category;

• The Catch Up Index includes the Freedom House and Reporters without Borders media indices released in 2010 (based on 2009 data);

• Includes standardized scores of the Freedom House and Reporters without Borders (i.e. the scores were rescaled on a scale from 100 to 0);

• Measured on a scale 100-0 (highest to lowest);

Country rank Media freedom scoreFinland 72 EU27&EU15+2 Max 72Denmark 72Sweden 72Iceland 71Netherlands 69Ireland 68Estonia 68Belgium 68Luxembourg 66Germany 63Lithuania 63United Kingdom 60 EU15+2 Average 60Austria 60Czech Republic 59Malta 59Latvia 58Portugal 57 EU27 Average 57Hungary 56Cyprus 56France 49Poland 49Slovenia 49Slovakia 48Spain 47Greece 45Italy 39 EU15+2 Min 39Bulgaria 31Macedonia 31Serbia 29Bosnia and Herzegovina 29Romania 29Montenegro 29Croatia 28Albania 12Turkey 5

• 8 new member states are above the EU15+2 minimal score (“old EU”)

• 4 new member states are above the EU27 average

• Estonia and Lithuania are doing better than some of the established EU members

Media freedom scores and ranks of 35 European countries

Focus on the EU10 group

Ranking Media freedom scoreEU15+2 Maximum 72Estonia 68Lithuania 63EU15+2 Average 60Czech Republic 59Latvia 58EU27 Average 57Hungary 56Poland 49Slovenia 49Slovakia 48EU15+2 Minimal 39Bulgaria 31Romania 29

• Most of the “new” members – the EU10 group – are doing well in media freedom, compared to average levels within the EU;

• When the difference is smaller than 5 points not substantial

Media Freedom and Economy• Most new member states have better Media

Freedom scores than Economy Scores;• Lower economic development does not mean much

less media freedom;

Austria

BelgiumCyp

rus

Denmark

Finlan

dFra

nce

German

y

Greece

Irelan

dIta

ly

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherla

nds

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

United Kingd

om

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Estonia

HungaryLat

via

Lithuan

ia

Poland

Romania

Slova

kia

Slove

nia

Croatia

Macedonia

Turke

y

Montenegro

Icelan

d

Albania

Bosnia and Herze

govin

aSe

rbia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 Media Freedom and Economy

Media freedom - composite score

Economy Score

Media Freedom and Quality of Life• Most new member states have better Media Freedom

scores than Quality of Life scores;• Lower Quality of Life does not mean much less media

freedom;

Austria

BelgiumCypru

s

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Luxe

mbourgMalta

Netherla

nds

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

Bulgaria

Czech

Republic

Estonia

HungaryLa

tvia

Lithuania

Poland

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Croatia

Macedonia

Turkey

Montenegro

Iceland

Albania

Bosnia and Herze

govinaSerb

ia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 Media Freedom and Quality of Life

Media freedom - composite score

Quality Score

Media Freedom and the other Democracy Indicators

• Most of the new member states have higher scores in Media Freedom than in the other Democracy Indicators;

• The rest of the EU10 group have similar scores in Media Freedom and the other Democracy Scores;

• The graph shows the relation between Media Freedom and the other indicators that measure Democracy (satisfaction with democracy, human rights, voice and accountability, trust in people, overall democracy ratings);

Austria

BelgiumCyp

rus

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Irelan

dIta

ly

Luxe

mbourgMalta

Netherlands

Portuga

lSp

ain

Sweden

United Kingd

om

Bulgaria

Czech

Republic

Estonia

HungaryLat

via

Lithuan

ia

Poland

Romania

Slovak

ia

Slovenia

Croatia

Macedonia

Turke

y

Montenegro

Icelan

d

Albania

Bosnia an

d Herzego

vinaSe

rbia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80 Media Freedom and other Democracy Indicators

Media Freedom

Selected Democracy indi-cators

Scor

es

Media Freedom and Governance• Most new member states have better Media Freedom

scores than Governance scores;• Better Governance does not mean substantially more

Media Freedom in the EU10 group;

Austria

BelgiumCyp

rus

Denmark

Finlan

dFra

nce

German

y

Greece

Irelan

dIta

ly

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

United Kingd

om

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Estonia

HungaryLat

via

Lithuan

ia

Poland

Romania

Slovak

ia

Slove

nia

Croatia

Macedonia

Turke

y

Montenegro

Icelan

d

Albania

Bosnia and Herze

govin

aSe

rbia0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Media Freedom and Governance

Governance

Media freedomScor

es

Media Freedom and Quality of Education• Almost all new member states have very similar scores in Media

Freedom and Quality of Education (measured by the results of PISA - the Program for International Student Assessment);

• Media freedom and the quality of education are very closely related in the EU10 group;

Austria

BelgiumCyp

rus

Denmark

Finlan

dFra

nce

German

y

Greece

Irelan

dIta

ly

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

United Kingd

om

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Estonia

HungaryLat

via

Lithuan

ia

Poland

Romania

Slova

kia

Slove

nia

Croatia

Macedonia

Turke

y

Montenegro

Icelan

d

Albania

Bosnia and Herze

govin

aSe

rbia0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

90.00

100.00Media Freedom and Quality of Education (PISA results)

PISA

Media freedom

Scor

es

Correlation coefficients - highlights

> 1 - 0,6 higher correlation < 0,6 - 0 lower correlation

Correlations between Media Freedom and …..

Correlation between Media Freedom and….. EU27 group EU15+2 group EU10 group

Economy 0,72medium to high 0,76 medium to high 0,61 medium

Quality of Life 0,65 medium 0,59 medium 0,62 medium

The other Democracy indicators 0,80 high 0,81 high 0,76medium to high

Governance 0,78medium to high 0,90 very high 0,56 medium to low

Quality of Education (PISA) 0,76medium to high 0,57 medium to low 0,87 very high

• The highest correlation in the EU10 group is between Media Freedom and the Quality of Education;

• The second highest correlation is between Media Freedom and other Democracy indicators in the EU10;

• The correlations between Media Freedom and Quality of Life and Economy respectively in the EU10 are average;

• The correlation of Media Freedom and Governance is also average in the new member states;

Assya Kavrakova

Program DirectorEuropean Policies and Civic Participation ProgramEuropean Policies InitiativeOpen Society Institute - Sofia

www.osi.bgwww.eupi.eu