The 2004 Press Freedom report is now published

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday October 28, 2004 13:05

by iosaf - reporters sans frontiers.

as every year, Reporters Sans Frontiers index all states according to freedom of press, opinion.

For the First year ever, Ireland has achieved position one which it shares with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Congratulations to all journalists, editors and media workers who have finally brought Ireland into the fold!

Reporters Without Borders announces its third annual worldwide index of press freedom. Such freedom is threatened most in East Asia (with North Korea at the bottom of the entire list at 167th place, followed by Burma 165th, China 162nd, Vietnam 161st and Laos 153rd) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia 159th, Iran 158th, Syria 155th, Iraq 148th).

In these countries, an independent media either does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored on a daily basis. Freedom of information and the safety of journalists are not guaranteed there. Continuing war has made Iraq the most deadly place on earth for journalists in recent years, with 44 killed there since fighting began in March last year.

But there are plenty of other black spots around the world for press freedom. Cuba (in 166th place) is second only to China as the biggest prison for journalists, with 26 in jail (China has 27). Since spring last year, these 26 independent journalists have languished in prison after being given sentences of between 14 and 27 years.

No privately-owned media exist in Turkmenistan (164th) and Eritrea (163rd), whose people can only read, see or listen to government-controlled media dominated by official propaganda.

The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway), which is a haven of peace for journalists. Of the top 20 countries, only three (New Zealand 9th, Trinidad and Tobago 11th and Canada 18th) are outside Europe.

Other small and often impoverished democracies appear high on the list, such as El Salvador (28th) and Costa Rica (35th) in Central America, along with Cape Verde (38th) and Namibia (42nd) in Africa and Timor-Leste (57th) in Asia.

Reporters Without Borders compiled the index by asking its partner organisations (14 freedom of expression organisations in five continents), its 130 correspondents around the world, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 52 questions to indicate the state of press freedom in 167 countries (others were not

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There are of course reservations for many of the "high scoring" countries regarding inteference in independent cyber journalism.
Since it has not yet been confirmed that Switzerland played a rôle in the recent illegal and extra-judicial seizure by the FBI in London of Indymedia servers, the Swiss get the benefit of the doubt.

It is also worth commenting that on Oct 23, it became apparent that the Dutch authorities had requested the IMC for user logs to the Netherlands indymedia site. But they have not so far taken any "action" against the Dutch Indymedia team or attacked the indmedia there in any way.

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Finally I'd like to comment on the joint ranking of Spain and Italy at position 39 just below Israel and the occupied Israeli territories.
Italian media suffers an undue pressure from the executive of Berlusconi the Italian Prime Minister who is also a Media mogul owning a considerable share of TV and print media in his own country and the Mediterranean area.

Spain has dropped for the gross manipulation of the press in the immediate aftermath of the March 11 bombing of Madrid, when then President of the Spanish Government José Maria Aznar and then Minister of the Interior Angels Acabes instructed both state media organisations and embassies to blame ETA when all information from the Spanish secret services (CNI) discounted such a possibility.
It is worth remembering that such lies and manipulation were believed and continued not only in Spain but even here on Indymedia Ireland by a now former member of the editorial team who despite never apologising or making a statement regarding his own much vaunted "journalistic professionalism" is attempting to pursue a career in the sector.

you may download the detailed reports on each continent and the previous Press Freedom reports from 2003 and 2002 at the link.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Flawed But Useful

by Councilwatch

Thu Oct 28, 2004 17:44

While this is a very useful exercise and some interesting information is contained in the report there are also a number of misconceptions about it.

Little effort is made in the compilation of the report to analyse the impact media ownership has on press freedom, nor does it take into account the ability of journalists and reporters to, self-conciously or otherwise, self-censor, a particularly odious form of censorship curiously prevalent in Irish media.

The report merely ascertains press freedom by examining State laws and regulations on the press, and the actions of non-state actors (Paramilitaries, criminal gangs, pressure groups) without really performing a qualitative analysis of the media (Probably beyond capability), the ownership of it (Certainly not) or the opinion of the consumers of the media.

Flawed but useful work.

however

by --

Thu Oct 28, 2004 21:12

it will be noted when reading the report, that those states where such issues are most problematic have a considerably lower score.
Italy as I pointed out scores so low, _lower_ than Israel, for exactly those reasons therefore I would argue that this year's RSF report is a reliable indication.
It ought also be noted and known and appreciated by younger readers, that Ireland has seen her "press freedom" increase in leaps and bounds since the days when journalists were shot for doing their job.

So much so, that I almost wanted to put Veronica Guerin's name in the article.
And she was not the only journalist to be physically and criminally initimidated during the course of her career.

RIP.

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The 2004 Press Freedom report is now published

Comments (2 of 2)