EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The latest report by Reporters Without Borders once again ranked Bulgaria an unenviable 111th in the world for freedom of expression. The debate on this topic in the country revolves mostly around the causes without looking for a way out of the situation.
The solution to the problem of limited freedom of speech lies in economic freedom. A study by the Montreal Institute of Economics shows that the more economically free people in a country are, the freer the media there is.
The data show that in countries where economic freedom is sufficiently well represented, far fewer journalists are attacked, the media do not suffer from unnecessary regulations, and the pressure on them for certain political content decreases. Two separate analyses show that there is a significant relationship between economic freedom and media freedom. The first shows that 71% of the countries with the highest economic freedom also have very high media freedom, and the second shows that the greater the economic control exercised by the state over the media, the lower the freedom of journalists.
Chart 1: Relationship between economic freedom and freedom of speech for 2015.
Източници: Freedom House, Freedom of the Press 2017: Press Freedom’s Dark Horizon, April 2017; James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshua Hall, Economic Freedom of the World: 2017 Annual Report, Fraser Institute, September 2017
Freedom of speech and economic freedom of the individual are interrelated
Proof of this is that as early as 1605 in Strasbourg, Johann Carolus published the first newspaper, due to the increasing demand for news distributed by the German post office and the good opportunity for profitable activity . As a result of this market approach, people developed critical thinking, independent of the aristocracy, and began to take an active interest in politics, challenging the established state system.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of democracy and is of utmost importance for society to make well-informed decisions in a market economy. Independent media also represent the "fourth estate" that successfully fights corruption.
Nobel laureates in economics Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek found that restricting economic freedom also leads to restricting civil rights. As Hayek wrote, "He who controls economic activity controls the means to achieve all ends," including all channels of public expression in society.
Where are we?
As can be seen, despite the growth of economic freedom in Bulgaria, the media does not enjoy a suitable environment for development, and in this indicator we are next to a country like Turkey, where the Erdogan regime kills and imprisons journalists and cartoonists. The role of the state in the economy of both countries has also been significant in recent years.
In comparison, Romanians have twice as much growth in their economic freedom and many times better media freedom.
Chart 2: Change in freedom of speech versus the 10 most positive and negative changes in economic freedom
Източници: Freedom House, Freedom of the Press 2017: Press Freedom’s Dark Horizon, April 2017; James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, and Joshua Hall, Economic Freedom of the World: 2017 Annual Report, Fraser Institute, September 2017.
A good level of economic freedom for individuals is not a 100% guarantee of freedom of speech (Singapore and Hong Kong are examples of this, see Fig. 1), but it is a fact that when people have the freedom to dispose of their funds and property as they see fit in a given year, freedom of speech improves in that country the following year. An inverse correlation is not observed.
