Media Freedom and Social Capital

This article examines the relationship between media freedom and social capital by using cross-country panel data. The hypothesis of the current study is the U-shaped relationship between media freedom and social capital, which is based on the claims that media freedom has a negative impact on bonding social capital and a positive effect on bridging social capital. To test the hypothesis, this study uses OLS and 2SLS regression methods, as well as panel data random effects regression. The empirical findings support the hypothesis of the U-shaped relationship.