How free are different countries in the world? Historical Guide to World Media Freedom: A Country-by-Country Analysis

Washington, DC - One important way to measure liberty is how free a citizen is to criticize his government—whether through the traditional print and broadcast news or the more modern social media. How much the news is censored is also a measurable indicator. Comparing media freedom throughout history and country by country is the new Historical Guide to World Media Freedom: A Country-by-Country Analysis, published by CQ Press.

Bringing together comprehensive historical data on media freedom since World War II, Historical Guide to World Media Freedom provides consistent and comparable measures of media freedom in all independent countries from 1948 to the present. Framing the discussion with a well-written preface, this new resource provides country-by-country summaries, analyses of historical and regional trends in media freedom, and extensive reliability analyses of media freedom measures. Researchers will be able to peruse these sections:

• Introduction
• Defining and Measuring Media Freedom
• The Historical Development and Correlates of Media Freedom
• Country Profiles
• Conclusion
• Appendices and Other Helps

Historical Guide to World Media Freedom’s detailed information helps researchers connect historical measures of media freedom to Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press survey release, enabling them to extend their studies back before the 1980s when Freedom House began compiling global press freedom measures. Because no other volume so clearly and concisely explores media freedom around the world, this one belongs on the shelves of all public, academic, and high school libraries—especially those with communications, media, and political science collections.

Jenifer Whitten-Woodring is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Douglas A. Van Belle is a political science professor who writes science fiction and teaches in the media studies program at Victoria University of Wellington.

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CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE, is a leading publisher of books, reference content, periodicals, and digital products on American government, public policy, and international affairs. Known for its objectivity and breadth and depth of coverage, CQ Press consistently ranks among the top academic and professional publishers for its high-quality content and scholarship. CQ Press was founded with the mission of promoting democracy through education and joined the SAGE family in 2008. www.cqpress.com

Historical Guide to World Media Freedom: A Country-by-Country Analysis

August 2014                          592 Pages

ISBN: 978-1-6087-1765-1         Cloth $150.00

eISBN: 978-1-4522-3422-9