What do the following 30 countries have in common?
Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Latvia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand, Slovenia, Hungary, Jamaica, South Africa, Costa Rica, Uruguay, France, United Kingdom, Portugal, Benin, Timor-Leste
According to the second annual rating by Reporters Without Borders, they all have more press freedom than the United States. Greece and the U.S. tied for 31st out of 166 countries this year. (Last year, the organization ranked the U.S. No. 17 out of 139.)
Many governments, including the U.S. government, do what they can to influence, distort, spin and otherwise color what is reported, as well as run the occasional smear job on some journalist or publication. But that’s a far cry from what goes on in the bottom 20% of the RWB list. In those countries, in addition to the usual legwork of finding good sources and prying information out wherever they can, reporters face harassment, beatings, torture, imprisonment and even murder.
Some excerpts from the
Reporters Without Borders survey:
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).
… 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.
…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.
…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.