IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v166y2023i3d10.1007_s11205-022-03037-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Build Back Worse: The Media Coverage of Well-being Metrics Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Crucial Cases of Scotland and Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Battaglia

    (The London School of Economics and Political Science)

Abstract

Despite the media are often described as critical for the success of the well-being agenda, there is wide dissatisfaction with their current level of interest. However, the media coverage of well-being metrics has been unresearched and, even when studies have been conducted, these employed unrobust methodologies, were limited to newspapers and to restricted samples of metrics. This paper fills such gap, providing also for the first time an analysis of radio and TV coverage of well-being metrics. The research was undertaken using Factiva (for newspapers) and TVEyes (for radio and TV) for the years of 2017–2021 and 2018–2021, respectively. The countries analysed are Scotland and Italy, both pioneers in the measurement of well-being. Findings reveal that media coverage of well-being metrics has been extremely low overall and that this was impacted negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic, which instead impacted positively on the reporting of GDP and related queries, showing that the main concern during the pandemic was the impact that this was going to have in terms of output, rather than in terms of well-being. Most composite indices, whose creation is often thought to help obtain greater media coverage, were almost if not even fully ignored by journalists, whereas metrics that lack an overall composite index but that are overseen by independent institutions and have been institutionalised were among the ones that were reported the most.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Battaglia, 2023. "Build Back Worse: The Media Coverage of Well-being Metrics Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Crucial Cases of Scotland and Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 521-573, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:166:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-022-03037-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-022-03037-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-022-03037-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-022-03037-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Morse, 2011. "Attracting Attention for the Cause. The Reporting of Three Indices in the UK National Press," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 17-35, March.
    2. Robert Costanza & Ida Kubiszewski & Enrico Giovannini & Hunter Lovins & Jacqueline McGlade & Kate E. Pickett & Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir & Debra Roberts & Roberto De Vogli & Richard Wilkinson, 2014. "Development: Time to leave GDP behind," Nature, Nature, vol. 505(7483), pages 283-285, January.
    3. Fleurbaey, Marc & Blanchet, Didier, 2013. "Beyond GDP: Measuring Welfare and Assessing Sustainability," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199767199, Decembrie.
    4. Anders Hayden & Jeffrey Wilson, 2016. "Is It What You Measure That Really Matters? The Struggle to Move beyond GDP in Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Stephen Morse, 2013. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Reporting of Three Indices in the UK National Press Between 1990 and 2009," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 242-259, July.
    6. MARTIN, GREGORY J. & McCRAIN, JOSHUA, 2019. "Local News and National Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(2), pages 372-384, May.
    7. Anders Hayden & Jeffrey Wilson, 2018. "Taking the First Steps beyond GDP: Maryland’s Experience in Measuring “Genuine Progress”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Kubiszewski, Ida & Costanza, Robert & Franco, Carol & Lawn, Philip & Talberth, John & Jackson, Tim & Aylmer, Camille, 2013. "Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 57-68.
    9. Stephen Morse, 2016. "Measuring the Success of Sustainable Development Indices in Terms of Reporting by the Global Press," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 359-375, January.
    10. Carrie Exton & Michal Shinwell, 2018. "Policy use of well-being metrics: Describing countries’ experiences," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2018/07, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Günseli BERIK, 2020. "Measuring what matters and guiding policy: An evaluation of the Genuine Progress Indicator," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 159(1), pages 71-94, March.
    2. Bing Wang & Tianchi Chen, 2022. "Social Progress beyond GDP: A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of GDP and Twelve Alternative Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Ida Kubiszewski & Kenneth Mulder & Diane Jarvis & Robert Costanza, 2022. "Toward better measurement of sustainable development and wellbeing: A small number of SDG indicators reliably predict life satisfaction," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 139-148, February.
    4. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    5. Koskimäki, Teemu, 2023. "Targeting socioeconomic transformations to achieve global sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    6. Luhua Wu & Shijie Wang & Xiaoyong Bai & Guangjie Luo & Jinfeng Wang & Fei Chen & Chaojun Li & Chen Ran & Sirui Zhang, 2022. "Accelerating the Improvement of Human Well-Being in China through Economic Growth and Policy Adjustment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, October.
    7. Andreas Makoto Hein & Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, 2020. "Energy Limits to the Gross Domestic Product on Earth," Working Papers hal-02570677, HAL.
    8. van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2022. "A procedure for globally institutionalizing a ‘beyond-GDP’ metric," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Mirko Armiento, 2016. "The Sustainable Welfare Index for Italy, 1960-2013," Working Papers 1601, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2016.
    10. V. K. Shrotryia & Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh, 2020. "Measuring Progress Beyond GDP: A Theoretical Perspective," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 6(2), pages 143-165, November.
    11. Olivier Malay, 2017. "Beyond GDP indicators: A tension between powerful stakeholders and transformative potential?," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017018, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    12. van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2023. "Climate policy versus growth concerns: Suggestions for economic research and communication," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    13. Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 2018. "Sustainability Indicators Past and Present: What Next?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    14. Robi Kurniawan & Shunsuke Managi, 2019. "Linking Wealth and Productivity of Natural Capital for 140 Countries Between 1990 and 2014," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 443-462, January.
    15. Tomáš Hák & Svatava Janoušková & Alistair Whitby & Saamah Abdallah & Jan Kovanda, 2015. "Indicator Policy Factsheets: A Knowledge Brokerage Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-16, March.
    16. Stephen Morse, 2018. "Focussing on the Extremes of Good and Bad: Media Reporting of Countries Ranked Via Index-Based League Tables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 631-652, September.
    17. Pierpaolo D’Urso & Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo & Livia Giovanni & Riccardo Massari, 2022. "Well-Being in the Italian Regions Over Time," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 599-627, June.
    18. Larry Dwyer, 2023. "Why tourism economists should treat resident well-being more seriously," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(8), pages 1975-1994, December.
    19. Long, Xianling & Ji, Xi, 2019. "Economic Growth Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Welfare in China - Provincial Assessment Based on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 157-176.
    20. Cook, David & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2021. "An appraisal of interlinkages between macro-economic indicators of economic well-being and the sustainable development goals," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:166:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-022-03037-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.