Focussing on the Extremes of Good and Bad: Media Reporting of Countries Ranked Via Index-Based League Tables

Abstract

The paper provides the first published evidence for a 'U' shaped relationship between country 'league-table' ranking based on the Human Development Index (HDI) and Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and media reporting. The results suggest that the Extremity Hypothesis proposed by Heath (1996) applies to such data rather than the alternative of the Centrality Hypothesis. In the Extremity Hypothesis people are more likely to transmit information regarding extremes, perhaps because people value 'surprisingness' or think that others do so, and the inevitable polarity of league-tables would appear to invite greater attention on those countries that rank high and low. This is an important finding as it suggests that countries at these extremes could act as exemplars. However, this is not to say that at more regional scales the media may pick-up on differences between 'peer group' countries ranked towards the middle of the league-table. Much more attention needs to be given by researchers to the use of indicators and indices and what helps to influence this, especially as it would help inform further development of existing indicators/indices and the creation of new ones.

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“…Outliers, in turn, should prompt deeper analyses of such findings. 14 Morse writes, too, that ‘the ‘league table’ style of presenting rankings is…meant to be picked up by the media, and through them the public, non-government organisations, pressure groups, aid agencies and so on, and ultimately provide pressure on decision makers to bring about positive change.’ 15 Regardless of their overall score and rank, all countries—including high-performing states—should examine specific GHS Index indicators closely as a means of identifying critical weaknesses to address through capacity-building, funding, legislation or other approaches (see the Considerations for GHS Index users section).…”

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“…These data have come from the Nexis database of global media publications (https: //www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/nexis.page) but specifically searching newspapers where these phrases appears in English referring to the UK. The Nexis database has been applied in several published studies designed to explore reporting of indicators in the media [36][37][38][39]. Unsurprisingly, the number of "mentions" of the phrase surged in 2016, and is also higher than the 2010-2014 norm in 2015 when speculation over the referendum was rife and in 2017 as the UK started negotiating the terms of its exit from the EU.…”