Title of their annual online report:
"2016 World Press Freedom Index: a “deep and disturbing” decline in media freedom" rsf.org/...
Recent crackdowns by the government on media in Turkey (at least 20 TV/radio stations closed) has highlighted the battle for freedom of the press around the world. cpj.org/...
rsf.org/...
Organizations who keep track of violations of press freedom include:
Reporters Without Borders, Committee To Protect Journalists, Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press, Society of Professional Journalists, etc.
Many of these groups lobby for the release of journalists and advocate for just treatment of bloggers, livestreamers and what RWB calls "netizens" - people who use the web to distribute information. Every day there are new reports of journalists and netizens being harassed, arrested, kidnapped, tortured, and in some cases killed because of their work.
The most recent RWB figures indicate that as of October 6th, 46 journalists, 7 netizens and 8 media assistants have been killed worldwide in 2016.
The following numbers are currently imprisoned: 143 journalists, 153 netizens, and 15 media assistants.
Finland is ranked #1 on the 2016 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, followed by Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand. Costa Rica is ranked #6.
The US is ranked 41st.
Russia is ranked 148th and China 176th.
Here is the methodology used to create these rankings: rsf.org/...
CRITERIA CATEGORIES AND INDICATORS
The questionnaire focuses on such criteria categories as the country’s performance as regards pluralism, media independence and respect for the safety and freedom of journalists. Each question in the questionnaire is linked to one of the six following indicators:
1 / Pluralism [indicator scorePlur]Measures the degree to which opinions are represented in the media.
2/ Media independence [indicator scoreInd]
Measures the degree to which the media are able to function independently of sources of political, governmental, business and religious power and influence.
3/ Environment and self-censorship [indicator scoreEA]
Analyses the environment in which news and information providers operate.
4/ Legislative framework [indicator scoreCL]
Measures the impact of the legislative framework governing news and information activities.
5/ Transparency [indicator scoreTra]
Measures the transparency of the institutions and procedures that affect the production of news and information.
6/ Infrastructure [indicator scoreInf]
Measures the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.
A seventh indicator based on data gathered about abuses and acts of violence against journalists and media during the period evaluated is also factored into the calculation.
7/ Abuses [indicator scoreExa]
Measures the level of abuses and violence.Each indicator is given a score between 0 and 100.
RWB analyses include research on censorship, access to information and treatment of journalists and netizens.
Reporters Without Borders and Committee To Protect Journalists event at United Nations -
Initiative To Protect Journalists:
RWB & CPJ United Nations Event - Initiative To Protect Journalists
The reasons for RWB's concern about freedom of the press worldwide is expressed in the following statement:
2016 World Press Freedom Index – leaders paranoid about journalists
Most of the movement in the World Press Freedom Index unveiled on April 20, 2016 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is indicative of a climate of fear and tension combined with increasing control over newsrooms by governments and private-sector interests.
The many reasons for this decline in freedom of information include the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of governments in countries such as Turkey and Egypt, tighter government control of state-owned media, even in some European countries such as Poland, and security situations that have become more and more fraught, in Libya and Burundi, for example, or that are completely disastrous, as in Yemen.
Democracy Watch News Special Report:
"Democracycast" Podcast on Press Freedom in Africa and the Middle East -
Courtney Radsh, Advocacy Director, Committee To Protect Journalists:
democracycast.libsyn.com/...
Democracy Watch News "Democracycast" Podcast on Ethics in Journalism -
Lynn Edwards, Dean Edwards, Mark Taylor-Canfield:
democracycast.libsyn.com/...
Democracy Watch News "Democracycast" Podcast on US Press Freedom Ranking -
democracycast.libsyn.com/...
Reporters Without Borders Report on Press Freedom January 2016 -
rsf.org/...
There has been a decline in the US ranking since 2011 and the Occupy Wall Street movement. During that period, journalists and livestreamers were harassed and arrested by police while trying to report on protests. In addition, RWB has cited the increasingly prevalent secrecy regime of the US government, making it more difficult for journalists to access information about the workings of their own government.
The Federal Communications Commission has consistently supported corporate media ownership consolidation, leading to a monopoly on US news by a few mega media giants. Alternative and independent media struggles to survive in a profit driven market controlled by a few powerful corporate interests.
Another factor in the US decline in ranking has been the vigorous prosecution of whistle blowers by the Barack Obama administration. Recent information about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's alleged queries regarding the use of drones to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may also contribute to this decline.
This information about the repression of media and journalism should shock readers! We are living in an information age when access to data is the source of significant power. Secret government surveillance programs and "black budget" anti-terrorism operations continue to expand in the United States and Europe.
Meanwhile, authoritarians around the world are engaged in campaigns to silence dissidents and suppress media. At Democracy Watch News we are working with Sana Camara, a journalist from The Gambia who is now in exile in Senegal due to crackdowns on the press by the regime of President Yahya Jammeh.
Committee To Protect Journalists report on arrest of Sana Camara in The Gambia:
cpj.org/…
Washington Post article on violations of civil rights in The Gambia:
www.washingtonpost.com/...
Amnesty International Protest Vs Repression of Press/Political Dissent The Gambia, Africa:
www.amnesty.org/...
The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines. Throughout the world, “oligarchs” are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments.
Ultimately, it is up to the journalists, editors, producers, and publishers to bring this issue to the forefront of their reporting to ensure that issues regarding press freedom are included in international dialogue.
Providing support for organizations with a mission to advocate for freedom of the press is now, I believe, the duty of all citizens of the world.
Originally published at Oximity: www.oximity.com/...
