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| Thu May 1 21:18:45 2008 Al-Jazeera Cameraman |
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| Sun Apr 13 22:38:47 2008 Other Freedom Rankings |
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| Mon Apr 7 21:00:00 2008 Reporters Sans Frontieres |
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| Thu May 1 21:18:45 2008 Al-Jazeera Cameraman Sami al-Haj is released after 6 years. |
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| In Reporters Sans Frontieres I mentioned the al-Jazeera cameraman who had been imprisoned at Guantanamo for the past 6 years. I learned about him only in passing, since his imprisonment was one of the reasons that Reporters Without Borders ranked the US fairly low in press freedoms relative to the rest of the world. Today I saw in the headlines that Sami al-Haj has been freed. He was apparently bundled up on a plane and flown to the Sudan. No explanation for his years of detention has been given. I can only assume that his unnannounced and unexplained release, coming so soon after my entry, is due to the impact of my blog. Perhaps now that he was released our Press Freedoms ranking will climb a bit! The US State Department should release a Guantanamo prisoner each year, to boost our rank. Comments |
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| Sun Apr 13 22:38:47 2008 Other Freedom Rankings Comparing countries' various rankings. |
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| I was thinking of other country rankings. I quote the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking below, but there are other rankings! There is the index of economic freedom from the Heritage Foundation. I have no idea what the Heritage Foundation stands for, but some quick surfing on their site indicates it is a right-wing think tank. Check out some of their positions listed here. So take their biases into account, but their ranking methodology isn't bad. That's just economic freedom. There is a basic freedom ranking published by Freedom House, which is a nonprofit organization (founded by Eleanor Roosevelt!) which promotes freedom around the world (take a look at their mission statement). Their freedom ranking focuses on political rights (electoral process and government), and civil liberties (freedom of expression, rule of law, individual rights). They combine those subscores into an average per-country rating, with the summary listed here. What is the most free country in the world? No one seems to agree. Hong Kong tops the Heritage Foundation's ranking for Economic Freedom, but Freedom House lists it as only "Partly Free" (in the "Territories" section, sincie it isn't an independent country). China, to which Hong Kong belongs, is counted "Not Free" by Freedom House. Iceland and Norway are tied for the top spot in RSF's ranking of Press Freedoms, and both are in the top grouping for Freedom House's combined rankings. However, the Heritage Foundation says Iceland is only "Mostly Free" economically, while Norway is just "Moderately Free." So there is no one country that aces all the rankings. How does the United States rank? Economic Freedom: number 5 in the world, although we barely qualify as free (Heritage Foundation counts you as free if you rank from 80-100 on their scale, and only 7 countries qualified). Political and Civil freedoms: we are in the top group with a ranking of 1. Press freedoms: number 48 in the world. So we are at least in the better half of the world. Canada does well: it is ranked as Free by the Heritage Foundation, in the top group of Free countries from Freedom House, and is 18th on RSF's very tough press freedoms ranking. Russia does poorly: Heritage Foundation ranks it as economically repressed, Freedom House ranks it as "Not Free" (although in a group above China), and it is near the bottom of RSF's list at 144. China does even worse: although only "Mostly Unfree" from an economic perspective, it is "Not Free" from a political and civil perspective, and is a bottom-dweller of RSF's list at number 163. The United Kingdom? It is "Mostly Free" from an economic perspectve (just 0.5 short of "Free"!), in the top "Free" group from a political and civil perspective, and is a respectible 24th on the RSF list. As I mentioned below, I am a big fan of Tunisia, but it does poorly in these rankings. It is "Mostly Unfree" from an economic perspective, "Not Free" from a political/civil perspective (same ranking as Russia), and it ranks below Russia on the press freedoms index. Another country I've visited a few times is Chile. Chile ranks fairly well: it tops the list of "Mostly Free" countries from an economic perspective, is in the top grouping for political and civil freedoms, and is number 39 on the press freedoms ranking, ahead of the US, Israel, and South Africa, just to name a few. Comments |
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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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