As a self publisher, this is an issue that has concerned me for some time. It is bad enough independents have to fight the corporate man, but making the environment shady leads to self-censorship, the worst kind of all.
The United States (44th) fell more than 20 places, mainly because of the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources.
But here is the whole survey:
Reports without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005
Highlights:
The situation in Iraq (157th) deteriorated further during the year as the safety of journalists became more precarious. At least 24 journalists and media assistants have been killed so far this year, making it the mostly deadly conflict for the media since World War II. A total of 72 media workers have been killed since the fighting began in March 2003.
Our march to freedom in Iraq has lead to a press just 10 countries ahead of the stalward of free speech North Korea, who finished last of the 167 countries surveyed.
But more and more African and Latin American countries (Benin 25th, Namibia 25th, El Salvador 28th, Cape Verde 29th, Mauritius 34th, Mali 37th, Costa Rica 41st and Bolivia 45th) are getting very good rankings.
That's right folks, El Salvador has a more free press than we do, and we are just on slot ahead Bolivia. Bolivia, people.
At the top of the Index once again are northern European countries Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands, where robust press freedom is firmly established. The top 10 countries are all European. New Zealand (12th), Trinidad and Tobago (12th), Benin (25th) and South Korea (34th) are the highest-ranked countries in other continents.
Wow, let's give it up for Trinidad and Tobago, whose national soccer team also recently pulled off a major upset against Mexico. A dude whose regular job is driving a taxi scored a World Cup qualifer goal. Cheers to the twin islands.
Countries that have recently won their independence or have recovered it are very observant of press freedom and give the lie to the insistence of many authoritarian leaders that democracy takes decades to establish itself. Nine states that have had independence (or recovered it within the past 15 years) are among the top 60 countries - Slovenia (9th), Estonia (11th), Latvia (16th), Lithuania (21st), Namibia (25th), Bosnia-Herzegovina (33rd), Macedonia (43rd), Croatia (56th) and East Timor (58th).
See, newspapers, when they operate in the realm of a true free press, can lead a nation or people starting a nation out of the darkest hours. It is a shame this model was not allowed to flourish in Iraq, which is one of my greatest complaints against Bush.
The Index also contradicts the frequent argument by leaders of poor and repressive countries that economic development is a vital precondition for democracy and respect for human rights. The top of the Index is heavily dominated by rich countries, but several very poor ones (with a per capita GDP of less than $1,000 in 2003) are among the top 60, such as Benin (25th), Mali (37th), Bolivia (45th), Mozambique (49th), Mongolia (53rd), Niger (57th) and East Timor (58th).
I had to read that a couple of times, Mali has more freedom of press than the USA. Wow, Mali, for someone who has travel this blue marble a few times I found this astounding.
Other Highlights:
21 Canada
24 United Kingdom
90 Venezuela
106 India
125 Afghanistan (Freedom is on the march!)
132 Palestinian Authority
135 Mexico
137 United States of America (in Iraq)
138 Russia
145 Syria
157 Iraq (I have no idea why this is here twice, no denotation)
159 China
And the bottom 5:
163 Burma
164 Iran
165 Turkmenistan
166 Eritrea
167 North Korea
