Reporters Without Borders has published its second world press
freedom ranking. Like last year, the most catastrophic situation is to
found in Asia, with eight countries in the bottom ten : North Korea,
Burma, Laos, China, Iran, Vietnam, Turkmenistan and Bhutan.
Independent news media are either non-existent in these countries,
or are constantly repressed by the authorities. Journalists there work
in extremely difficult conditions, with no freedom and no security. A
number of them are imprisoned in Burma, China and Iran.
South Asia also fares quite poorly. India is ranked 128th, Pakistan 129th, followed by Bangladesh at 143, Maldives at 145 and Nepal at 150 out of 166 countries ranked.
The ten countries with the best record in terms of press freedom are in order of ranking, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark
Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Canada.
Cuba is in 165th position, second from last. Twenty-six independent
journalists were arrested in the spring of 2003 and sentenced to
prison terms ranging from 14 to 27 years, making Cuba the world`s
biggest prison for journalists. They were accused of writing articles for publication abroad that played into the hands of "imperialist
interests." Eritrea, in 162nd position, has the worst situation in Africa.
Privately-owned news media have been banned there for the past two years and 14 journalists are being held in undisclosed locations.
To compile this ranking, Reporters Without Borders asked journalists,
researchers, jurists and human rights activists to fill out a questionnaire evaluating respect for press freedom in a particular
country. A total of 166 countries are included in the ranking (as
against 139 last year). The other countries were left out because of a lack of reliable, well-supported data.
Wealth and press freedom don`t always go together As in 2002,
the ranking shows that a country`s respect for press freedom is not
solely linked to its economic development. The top 50 include
countries that are among the poorest in the world, such as Benin
(29th position), Timor-Leste (30th) and Madagascar (46th).
Conversely, the 50 countries that respect press freedom least include
such rich nations as Bahrain (117th) and Singapore (144th).
Special situation of the United States and Israel
The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as
regards behaviour beyond their borders.
The Israeli army`s repeated abuses against journalists in the
occupied territories and the US army`s responsibility in the death of
several reporters during the war in Iraq constitute unacceptable
behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment
to freedom of expression.
General deterioration in the Arab world The war in Iraq played a
major role in an increased crackdown on the press by the Arab
regimes. Concerned about maintaining their image and facing public
opinion largely opposed to the war, they stepped up control of the
press and increased pressure on journalists, who are forced to use
self-censorship.
Kuwait (102nd) replaced Lebanon (106th) as the Arab world`s leader
as regards respect for freedom of expression because of cases of
censorship in Lebanon, together with abusive judicial proceedings and
an attack on the television station Futur TV. Saudi Arabia (156th),
Syria (155th), Libya (153rd) and Oman (152nd) used all the means
at their disposal to prevent the emergence of a free and independent
press.
In Morocco (131st), the hopes pinned on Mohammed VI when he
became king in July 1999 have been dashed. Independent
newspapers are still subject to constant harassment from the
authorities. Ali Lmrabet, the publisher and editor of two satirical
weeklies, was sentenced in June 2003 to three years in prison for
"insulting the person of the king" because of articles and cartoons
touching on taboo subjects.
European Union gets good rankings, except Italy and Spain Italy
received a poor ranking (53rd) compared with the other European
Union countries for the second year running. Silvio Berlusconi`s
conflict of interests as head of government and owner of a media
empire is still unresolved. Furthermore, a draft law to reform radio
and TV broadcasting, tailored to Berlusconi`s interests, is likely to
increase the threats to news diversity in Italy.
Spain`s relatively low ranking (42nd) is due to difficulties for
journalists in the Basque country. The terrorist organisation ETA has
stepped up its threats against the news media, promising to target
journalists whose coverage does not match its view of the situation.
Furthermore, the necessary fight against terrorism has affected press
freedom, with the forced closure as a "preventive measure" of the
Basque newspaper Egunkaria, whose senior staff are suspected of
collaborating with ETA.
France is ranked as low as 26th because of its archaic defamation
legislation, the increasingly frequent challenges to the principle of
confidentiality of sources and the repeated abusive detention of
journalists by police.
Former USSR still lags behind The situation remains worrying in
Russia (148th), Ukraine (132nd) and Belarus (151st). A truly
independent press exists in Russia, but Russia`s poor ranking is
justified by the censorship of anything to do with the war in Chechnya, several murders and the recent abduction of the Agence
France-Presse correspondent in Ingushetia. Russia continues to be
one of the world`s deadliest countries for journalists.
Press freedom is virtually non-existent in much of central Asia,
especially Turkmenistan (158th) and Uzbekistan (154th). No criticism
of the authorities is tolerated.
Non-state violence Several countries with a democratically-elected
government and a free and independent press have poor rankings.
This is most notably the case with Bangladesh (143rd), Colombia
(147th) and Philippines (118th). Journalists in these countries are the
victims of violence that comes not only from the state but also from
political parties, criminal gangs or guerrilla groups. In other cases,
such as Nepal (150th), the press is caught in the cross fire between
security forces and rebels.
Such violence results in considerable self-censorship by the news
media, which do not dare to broach such subjects as corruption,
collusion between political leaders and organised crime, or sectarian
clashes. At the same time, the authorities very often fail to respond
to this violence with the appropriate measures, namely protection for
journalists and the punishment of those responsible.
News is the victim of war in Africa Wars and serious political crises
have inevitably had an impact on press freedom in Africa. The three
countries that have fallen most in the ranking in the past 12 months
are Côte d`Ivoire (137th), Liberia (132nd) and Guinea-Bissau
(118th). Local and foreign journalists were exposed to the violence of
the warring parties in Côte d`Ivoire and Liberia, while the military
closed down news media in Guinea-Bissau.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8247