Free press: An instrumental weapon in the fight against corruption

There is a growing body of work on corruption and its links to development. While corruption can serve as a hindrance to economic growth, some analysts argue that in certain developing countries, corruption is a necessary evil that 'greases the wheel' to ease economic and political transactions past lengthy red tape procedures. There is less ambiguity when viewed from a human rights perspective, however, as the siphoning of funds, political favours and other forms of corruption undermine human rights of many third world citizens. Corruption in developing countries leads to arbitrary and grossly unequal distribution of limited resources which favours those who are inclined or able to work the system.;Recent literature has explored the link between freedom of the press and corruption, focusing on the notion that a free press holds the ability to hold governments accountable and thus lower incidents of corruption. Given the policy implications this could have globally, this paper seeks to delve deeper into this relationship. This study extends research by examining an explanatory model that accounts for other factors associated with both press freedom and corruption to isolate the unique contribution that a press free of government control makes in curbing corruption. The study uses data from 180 countries created from recent and reliable sources such as Transparency International, Freedom House, the UN, World Bank and the Economist Intelligence Unit.;The results reveal that there exists a correlation between freedom of the press and corruption but that the direct effects of a free press might flow through a set of mechanisms. The findings imply that certain conditions like the existence of rule of law and a higher degree of democratization might serve as excellent mechanisms from a free press to operate through and hinder corruption. This leads to a number of policy implications for both countries and the international community whereby resources and efforts may be better channeled to battle corruption that plagues so many countries worldwide.