how free are your countries journalists?

[efoolution]

The Reporters without Borders have relased their anual rankings this week, the Press Freedom index.

“Press freedom must be defended everywhere in the world with the same energy and the same insistence,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said today as his organisation issued its eighth annual world press freedom index.

“It is disturbing to see European democracies such as France, Italy and Slovakia fall steadily in the rankings year after year,” Julliard said. “Europe should be setting an example as regards civil liberties. How can you condemn human rights violations abroad if you do not behave irreproachably at home? The Obama effect, which has enabled the United States to recover 20 places in the index, is not enough to reassure us.”

Reporters Without Borders compiles the index every year on the basis of questionnaires that are completed by hundreds of journalists and media experts around the world. This year’s index reflects press freedom violations that took place between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009.[...]

The "top30" are:

1 Denmark
- Finland
- Irland
- Norway
- Sweden
6 Estonia
7 Netherlands
- Switzerland
9 Iceland
10 Lituania
11 Belgium
- Malta
13 Austria
- Latvia
- New Zealand
16 Australia
17 Japan
18 Germany
19 Canada
20 Luxembourg
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
23 Jamaica
24 Czech Republic
25 Cyprus
- Hungary
27 Ghana
28 Trinidad and Tobago
29 Uruguay
30 Costa Rica
- Mali
- Portugal
[...]

http://www.rsf.org

There are sub-sites for every country like this
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport87-Germany.html
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport176-United_States.html
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport131-Russia.html

[nomix]

Can't say I don't feel free as a journalist, but it's nice to see my wildest hopes fulfilled, somehow.

I'd like to take a few moment to remember those who didn't come home from their jobs reporting news all over the world, they'll be sorely missed.

[hajj]

So Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania don't even make the top32? Quite a disgrace especially for the former two.

[nomix]

The Italian media is owned by a politician and the mafia.

That's the result.

[SirEdward]

49TH!

Hey, aren't bigger numbers better here?

Nomix, are you a journalist?

[Hidden_Hunter]

not sure what sort of metrics they are applying given we have very fwe restrictions

[mgkdk]

\o/

[nomix]

Originally Posted by SirEdward

49TH!

Hey, aren't bigger numbers better here?

Nomix, are you a journalist?

I am a freelance journalist and photographer.

Hidden_Hunter: Usually, one looks at the number of journalists in prison for not disclosing their sources, the number of killed journalists, the independance of the publications, the radio and television channels, the freedom of speech, how open the society is to reporting.

Things that'll get you further down on the list is restrictive slander laws (an old teacher of mine's convicted of slander four times, three of the times he wasn't even wrong, this brought Norway down on the list for ages), laws that stop religious critique (blasphemy laws), journalists sent to prison for not disclosing their sources (usual reason why the US comes so long down, it's called contempt for court or contempt of congress), the UK used to get a long way down simply because of the gentlemen clubs where editors sat down with power people and agreed to hold back surtain stories.

In contrast, Sweden is a bit of a strange piece of kit. A journalist has the right and the duty to protect his or hers sources, he or she is breaking the law if he or she doesn't protect their sources, a concequense of the IB affair in the 70s.

Hope that helps.

[salle]

Sweden FTMFW then

(even though Iceland has a better record if looking at previous years)

[Elvis313]

way to go Eritrea!

"175 out of 173 in the latest worldwide index"

[Nati]

lack of punctuation marks ahead, and it's hard to say what I think in english, so if you misunderstand I'm really really sorry

Most of the papers, radio stations and tv channels are property of the same blokes, who rather have a dictatorship than a female president, and the people is stupid enough to repeat everything they say without thinking, because is easier to talk than having a real opinion, and the owners of the channels now that, so they keep buying independent radio stations that otherwise would be shut down, and the listeners don't realize, and think that if the same thing is said in every newspaper and every program, it must be true

oh, and we're 47th

[efoolution]

Originally Posted by Elvis313

way to go Eritrea!

Just when N. Korea thought they had one Title in the bag ... some tiny african state comes along and snatches it from them. Damn, N Koreans really don´t have much already ... and even that they get stolen from them.

"175 out of 173 in the latest worldwide index"

... I´m guessing a database failure because they´ve had 173 countries in 2008 and enable you to crosscheck between years ...

[AiR]

Yay! When will I recieve my prize? I want a t-shirt.

The press release continues with some detail.

Europe long set an example in press freedom but several European nations have fallen significantly in this year’s index. Even if the first 13 places are still held by European countries, others such as France (43rd), Slovakia (44th) and Italy (49th) continue their descent, falling eight, 37 and five places respectively. In so doing, they have given way to young democracies in Africa (Mali, South Africa and Ghana) and the western hemisphere (Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago).

Journalists are still physically threatened in Italy and Spain (44th), but also in the Balkans, especially Croatia (78th), where the owner and marketing director of the weekly Nacional were killed by a bomb on 23 October 2008.

But the main threat, a more serious one in the long term, comes from new legislation. Many laws adopted since September 2008 have compromised the work of journalists. One adopted by Slovakia (44th) has introduced the dangerous concept of an automatic right of response and has given the culture minister considerable influence over publications.

Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s military offensive against the Gaza Strip, had an impact on the press. As regards its internal situation, Israel sank 47 places in the index to 93rd position. This nose-dive means it has lost its place at the head of the Middle Eastern countries, falling behind Kuwait (60th), United Arab Emirates (86th) and Lebanon (61st).

Israel has begun to use the same methods internally as it does outside its own territory. Reporters Without Borders registered five arrests of journalists, some of them completely illegal, and three cases of imprisonment. The military censorship applied to all the media is also posing a threat to journalists.

As regards its extraterritorial actions, Israel was ranked 150th. The toll of the war was very heavy. Around 20 journalists in the Gaza Strip were injured by the Israeli military forces and three were killed while covering the offensive.

Journalists have suffered more than ever this year in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran. The president’s disputed reelection plunged the country into a major crisis and fostered regime paranoia about journalists and bloggers.

Automatic prior censorship, state surveillance of journalists, mistreatment, journalists forced to flee the country, illegal arrests and imprisonment – such is the state of press freedom this year in Iran.

Already at the lower end of the rankings in previous years, Iran has now reached the gates of the infernal trio at the very bottom – Turkmenistan (173rd), North Korea (174th) and Eritrea (175th) – where the media are so suppressed they are non-existent.

The United States has climbed 16 places in the rankings, from 36th to 20th, in just one year. Barack Obama’s election as president and the fact that he has a less hawkish approach than his predecessor have had a lot to do with this.

But this sharp rise concerns only the state of press freedom within the United States. President Obama may have been awarded the Nobel peace prize, but his country is still fighting two wars. Despite a slight improvement, the attitude of the United States towards the media in Iraq and Afghanistan is worrying. Several journalists were injured or arrested by the US military. One, Ibrahim Jassam, is still being held in Iraq.

[nomix]

I can understand why Israel is falling down.

Old teacher of mine recently reported for a month from Lebanon. He found it very easy to work with militias, Hezbollah, Amal, PLO, pretty much everyone.

A couple of months later, Israel begun the Gaza war, and he was sent to Sderot, close to Gaza. He reported from outside Gaza during the duration of the war, no journalists were allowed in. There were jokes in the Norwegian press core of the need to dig their own tunnels to get in to Gaza.

After the blockade was broken, he found it a lot easier to work with Hamas in Gaza than it was working with Israeli authorities.

Way to go. WAY to go.

[MacGuffin]

The result for countries on 1st place is understandable, considering nothing ever happens there

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

The result for countries on 1st place is understandable, considering nothing ever happens there

that´s definitely the only explanation I can think of for the Austrians beating us

[hajj]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

that´s definitely the only explanation I can think of for the Austrians beating us

Yeah did they ever speak about Haider bisexuality?

[gaasc]

How the hell is Venezuela's press more free than Honduran press

[salle]

less threats, imprisonments, killings, regulations and laws prohibiting freedom of the press and freedom of speach?

[ninjacoco]

Originally Posted by mgkdk

\o/

But you don't have Skittles!