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.