Read all about it: media reporting of country ranks

This chapter addresses the question as to whether media reporting, via both newspapers and Twitter, is influenced by the index-based ranking of countries, and if so then what is the nature of that relationship. Results suggest that the pattern is a ‘U’ shaped one as countries that rank high (good news) and low (bad news stories) attract more media attention in terms of number of newspaper articles and tweets than those in the middle of the rankings. There are some exceptions to this pattern, most notably for the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and others such as Nigeria and Mexico, with large populations and media outlets. In many of the newspaper articles the rankings are used as windows on the world and provide the basis for countries to be compared, but the rankings are also often used in a more ‘self-reflective’ mode by newspapers, either to illustrate failures or as self-praise.