Evaluating the Evaluators: Media Freedom Indexes and What They Measure

In cooperation with the Center for Global Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, CIMA is pleased to publish this report. All over the world, studies that rank countries by media freedom figure prominently in civil liberties debates, aid programming, foreign policy decisions, and academic research. Evaluating the Evaluators: Media Freedom Indexes and What They Measure examines the strengths and shortcomings of existing media freedom indexes and offers recommendations to improve them. In view of the breadth and depth of these studies, the report recommends that organizations that evaluate press freedom continue to refine their methodology by increasing technical sophistication, cultural neutrality, and transparency and that they incorporate digital media into their evaluations. The report, by John Burgess, a former Washington Post reporter and editor who specializes in international affairs and technology, is based on a collection of academic papers on this subject submitted to the Annenberg School for Communication.