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| 2008 | |
| April | |
| Mon Apr 7 21:00:00 2008 Reporters Sans Frontieres |
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| Mon Apr 7 21:00:00 2008 Reporters Sans Frontieres Basic press freedom benchmarks. |
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| This is somewhat old news, but if you haven't seen the Reporters Without Borders 2008 Annual Report it is definitely worth checking out. It has details on each country's current press freedoms. I like the Reporters Without Borders organization. Its worldwide indices on press freedoms are excellent. Their description of the ranking process is fairly objective and focused. My only criticism of the organization is that it is very politicized. I don't necessarily disagree with their politics, but their activism means their objective judgement can (and should) be questioned. But at least their ranking system is transparent, which is laudable. Sometimes in the US, as we embark on various phases (or denials) of nation-building, we try to consider what the best forms of governments are. But there is something to be said about a free press. Perhaps any form of government works so long as there is freedom of expression. Citizens can audit and critize, and therefore improve, their government so long as they can openly discuss it. I think it is no coincidence that the worst governments are the ones with the least press freedoms. But more than anything, visit their press freedom ranking (also listed on the above ranking description page). It lists every country, in order from the most press freedoms to the least. Or, more accurately, it lists countries in order from the least press persecutions to the most. There are some expected results on the list. North Korea, China, and Cuba are near the bottom of the list. As they say in the report: "China is the most technically advanced country in terms of censorship and repression...", and their Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship is chilling reading. Also fascinating if you are an Internet technical junkie! There are also some surprises on the list. The United States ranks 48th on the list (!), after Ghana, Bosnia, Romania, and Nicaragua (just to name a few). Some of the reasons the US ranked so low were due to Guantanamo (an Al-Jazeera cameraman is being held there for the 6th year in a row, and is not charged with anything), the jailing of a blogger for refusing to name his sources, a number of other journalists forced to name sources, and the CIA destroying evidence (videotapes) of "interrogations." The report notes that some of these press restrictions are being lifted. But the Al-Jazeera cameraman appears to be hosed. As far as I could tell based on a quick Internet search, the cameraman's only crime seems to be that he worked for Al-Jazeera in a war zone. Mexico's low ranking (136!) was also a surprise. The Annual Report noted that Mexico has recently passed a law whereby defamation and "insults" are no longer criminal, which may help the 2008 rankings. But Mexico's biggest problem seems to be the murder of journalists by drug cartels. A personal and disappointing surprise for me was the low ranking of Tunisia at 145, below Russia, Afghanistan, and Yemen. I really enjoyed my week in Tunisia in 2001 but even at the time I noted some political discontent and a state personality cult built around the President, Ben Ali. The Annual Report notes that harrassment of journalists is routine, although the government takes pains to convict them "for things unrelated to their job so the regime can avoid criticism for censorship." Overall, the list and Annual Report are well worth the time to peruse. Comments |
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