This article is from the phys.org. Here’s an excerpt:

The importance of a free press to a thriving democracy is well-known. But what is its importance to a thriving economy?

We have found evidence attacks on press freedom—such as jailing journalists, raiding their homes, shutting down printing presses, and using libel laws to thwart reporters—have measurable effects on economic growth.

Our research team—spanning economics, journalism and media—used rankings on press freedom from the US-based Freedom House and data on economic growth to examine 97 countries from 1972 to 2014.

Here’s a link to the full article.