Press Freedom or News Accuracy? Media and Corruption in 34 European Countries

A free media has long been regarded as a key ingredient of high quality of government. Many analyses associate independent press and higher newspapers circulation with lower corruption. Yet, few studies examine which aspects of media performance make a difference for corruption. Does it matter that all main newspapers and television channels are aligned with political parties, or only some of them? Is news content accuracy important? We make use of original expert survey data to start investigating more systematically the relationship between media and corruption. A quantitative analysis of the link between media systems’ characteristics in 34 European countries sheds light on the key role of television, especially that of party/ownership bias, rather than newspapers. Content quality, measured by the accuracy of information from credible sources, registers no impact on corruption. We complement the analysis with observations pertaining to the case of Spain.