In a January article on Niger, IRIN reports that
“Press freedom groups agree that an increase in arrests, intimidation and harassment of journalists in Niger is impeding development in one of the poorest countries in the world.”
The current crackdown on journalists seem to be related to government’s dealing with a rebellion in the Northern part of the country, according to Transparency International. The Media Foundation for Western Africa (MFWA) listed Niger as one of the worst offending African countries when it comes to press harassment (the report notes that Reporters Without Borders – RSF – disagrees with that assessment).
What is interesting about this report is the connection it emphasizes between freedom of the press and development. A free press can exercise a watchdog function over government and keep corruption in check by putting governance practices on the frontpage. In Western Africa, at least, there is a strong correlation between development and freedom of the press. Of course, as good sociologists, we all know that correlation does not mean causation but a functioning press can lead to open governance, a better-informed citizenry and ultimately better governance.
“The link between democracy, press freedom and development has been well articulated by several studies, including from the World Bank and United Nations, which have shown that the more freedom journalists have the greater the control over corruption, and the greater focus of resources on priority development issues.”
As I have written someplace else, based on my reading of Jeffrey Sachs‘s The End of Poverty, the corruption argument is often used to throw our hands in the air when it comes to aid. The argument goes like this: aid money is wasted money because there is so much corruption that it will line the pockets of petty dictators; nothing can be done because of corruption.
This argument gets the causality wrong: Africa is not poor because it is corrupt; it is corrupt because it is poor. It is higher incomes in a country that improve governance for two major reasons: (1) a more affluent society is also more educated. People are able to be informed about government’s doing and can exercise oversight. Media and telecommunication technology support such a role (as illustrated by the role of bloggers in American elections; (2) a richer society also can afford better governance. A richer population generates more money through taxes. Civil servants are better educated so that public administrations are managed more competently and openly. Most African countries are too poor to afford high-quality governance but they are no more corrupt than other countries at the same income level.