City Research Online

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of press freedom on systemic risk using an international sample of banks. We construct a novel and comprehensive measure of press freedom by integrating data from multiple widely recognized sources: the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom country ranking, the Freedom of Expression Index, and the Freedom House Index. By combining these three distinct indices, our measure offers a more robust and multi‐dimensional assessment of press freedom, capturing a broader spectrum of factors influencing media independence and freedom of expression across countries. Our empirical evidence suggests that press freedom is associated with lower systemic risk in the banking sector. We show that this relationship is mitigated during the upward phase of the economic cycle, and enhanced during banking crises. Our findings hold when addressing potential endogeneity problems and when accounting for additional macroeconomic and firm controls.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2025 The Author(s).
Publisher Keywords:	bank stability, media freedom, press freedom, systemic risk
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Finance
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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