Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007

Eritrea comes last, replacing North Korea, while China and Burma still rank near bottom

Eritrea has replaced North Korea at the bottom of this year’s Reporters Without Borders world index, which is being published today. Also worthy of note is the fact that the G8 members, except Russia, have stopped their slide down the index. Several countries have fallen for cracking down on Internet users.

Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running.

“There is nothing surprising about this,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last, Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom. The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison. We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate.”

Outside Europe - in which the top 14 countries are located - no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists.

Of the 20 countries at the bottom of the index, seven are Asian (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea), five are African (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea), four are in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestinian Territories and Iran), three are former Soviet republics (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and one is in the Americas (Cuba).

“We are particularly disturbed by the situation in Burma (164th),” Reporters Without Borders said. “The military junta’s crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country. Journalists continue to work under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads. We also regret that China (163rd) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope.”

Military coups hit freedoms

Military coups that were supposed to restore democratic order in Thailand (135th) and Fiji (107th) in fact led to a deterioration in the situation of the news media. The Bangkok-based media continue to be relatively free, but the military prevented the deposed prime minister’s supporters from launching a TV station, and several website editors and bloggers were arrested. In Fiji, there were several weeks of tension between the army and journalists, and a foreign reporter was expelled. Thereafter, the pressure focused on those voicing criticism online.

Pakistan (152nd) continues to get a low ranking. All authority is concentrated in the army, led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999. The privately-owned TV stations were prevented from working freely and dozens of reporters were beaten and arrested during a crisis precipitated by Musharraf’s dismissal of the supreme court president.

War and peace

War is largely responsible for the low position assigned to some countries. The increase in fighting in Somalia (159th) and Sri Lanka (156th) has made it very hard for journalists to work. Several have been killed and censorship was stepped up as clashes became frequent. The belligerents refuse to recognise journalists’ rights and accuse them of supporting the other side.

In Afghanistan (142nd), the threats initially came from the Taliban and their allies. An Italian reporter’s driver and fixer were beheaded by one of Mullah Omar’s lieutenants, while several radio stations were attacked by armed groups. Weakened by the fighting and corruption, the government showed signs of nervousness. Several journalists were arrested by the intelligence services on trumped-up charges.

As predicted last year, Nepal (137th) has surged more than 20 places in the ranking. The end of the war and the return to democratic rule resulted in a revival of basic freedoms and created new space for the media. But ethnic violence in the south of the country exposed journalists to new dangers.

Unexpected improvements

Cambodia (85th) climbed a few rungs thanks to the government’s decision to decriminalize press offences. No journalist was imprisoned. But some journalists were targeted by death threats, especially when they covered corruption.

Philippines (128th) had fewer murders than in previous years. And President Gloria Arroyo’s associates brought fewer defamation actions against journalists and news media.

G8 members, except Russia, show slight improvement

After falling steadily in the index for the past three years, the G8 members have recovered a few places. France (31st), for example, has climbed six places in the past year. French journalists were spared the violence that affected them at the end of 2005 in a labour conflict in Corsica and during the demonstrations in the city suburbs. But many concerns remain about repeated censorship, searches of news organisations, and a lack of guarantees for the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.

There were slightly fewer press freedom violations in the United States (48th) and blogger Josh Wolf was freed after 224 days in prison. But the detention of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June 2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to join the lead group.

Italy (35th) has also stopped its fall, even if journalists continue to be under threat from mafia groups that prevent them from working in complete safety. Japan (37th) has seen a letup in attacks on the press by militant nationalists, and this has allowed it to recover 14 places.

“These developments are good news,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Perhaps the repeated calls to these democracies to behave in an exemplary manner has finally borne fruit. But we must remain careful and vigilant. Nothing can be taken for granted and we hope this trend will continue or even accentuate near year. We regret all the same that only two G8 members, Canada (18th) and Germany (20th), managed to be among the top 20.”

Russia (144th) is not progressing. Anna Politkovskaya’s murder in October 2006, the failure to punish those responsible for murdering journalists, and the still glaring lack of diversity in the media, especially the broadcast media, weighed heavily in the evaluation of press freedom in Russia.

Government repression no longer ignores bloggers

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison. Eight are being held in Vietnam. A young man known as Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in Egypt for blog posts criticising the president and Islamist control of the country’s universities.

Reporters Without Borders compiled this index by sending a questionnaire to the 15 freedom of expression organisations throughout the world that are its partners, to its network of 130 correspondents, and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It contained 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The index covers 169 nations. Other countries were not included because of lack of data.

Africa

Political tensions in Africa

The long crisis in Ethiopia (150th) that began with the November 2005 round-ups began to abate in the spring of this year with the acquittal of some of the imprisoned journalists. An additional step was achieved in July with the release of leaders of the opposition party that had been accused of trying to overthrow the government, and with them, the release of the last of their journalist co-defendants. As a result, Ethiopia has risen from the botting rungs of the ranking even if the frequent imprisonment of journalists, the climate of self-censorship and the unclear status of political prisoners, including two Eritrean journalists captured in Somalia, still weigh heavily.

Another year has gone by in Democratic Republic of Congo (133rd) in which journalists were killed. The way the authorities handled the murder of Radio Okapi journalist Serge Maheshe in June is indicative of the climate of impunity and injustice, one sustained by the government’s open contempt for the press. This explains why the country remains stuck in the red zone.

As for Niger (87th), where Moussa Kaka, the correspondent of RFI and Reporters Without Borders, is facing the possibility of a life sentence, its position does not reflect the enormous step backwards it took with his arrest on 20 September (after the 1 September cut-off date for this year’s ranking). Until then, Niger had been regarded as a country with significant problems (arrests, censorship and threats). But now it has taken the road of the authoritarian regimes at the bottom of the index.

Americas

Violence and censorship in the Americas

No journalist was killed in Colombia (126th) during the 12 months considered by this ranking. This is a first. Nonetheless, the media continue to be exposed to pressure and harassment by armed groups and paramilitaries. Cases of violence against journalists were reported in Brazil (84th) and Argentina (82nd) but the record was set by Peru (117th) with nearly 100 journalists physically attacked and many cases of threats as well.

Mexico continues to be the continent’s most dangerous country for the press. Eight journalists were killed there during the 12 months from September 2006. The police and judicial authorities failed to identify all those responsible and impunity continues to be rule.

In Venezuela (114th), the RCTV television station’s exclusion from terrestrial broadcasting at President Hugo Chávez’s behest on 27 May captured all the attention. Criticised even by some of the Bolivarian president’s own supporters, the measure highlighted the extent to which the government has taken control of radio and TV.

Asia

Military coups hit freedoms

Unexpected improvements

Philippines (128th) had fewer murders than in previous years. And President Gloria Arroyo’s associates brought fewer defamation actions against journalists and news media.

Europe

Bulgaria and Poland - Europe’s bad boys

All of the European Union member countries made it into the top 50 except Bulgaria (51st) and Poland (56th). In Sofia, journalists can be physically attacked because of their work. The climate got even worse after charges were withdrawn against police officers who beat up a journalist in May. In Poland, the authorities refuse to decriminalize press offences and the courts often pass suspended prison sentences on journalists. Ever since Lech Kaczynski became president in October 2005 and his brother, Jaroslaw, became prime minister a few months later, there has been an increase in prosecutions of news media.

The countries of northern Europe are always the ones who behave best. The exception is Netherlands (12th), which has fallen 12 places because it kept two Telegraaf journalists in custody for two days for refusing to reveal their sources to the judicial authorities. On the other hand, Denmark (8th) recovered its position near the top of the ranking after the end of the crisis over the Mohammed cartoons and the acquittal of Berlingske Tidende’s journalists.

In Spain (33rd), the Basque armed separatist group ETA broke off its ceasefire, dashing the hopes the media of finally being able to work without the threat of targeted violence hanging over them. Many journalists continue to rely on close police protection.

Turkey (101st) is the region’s only country where a journalist was murdered. The victim was Hrant Dink, the editor of Armenian minority newspaper Agos, who was gunned down in January by radical nationalists.

The status quo has held in central Asia. No improvement has been seen in Uzbekistan (160th) or Turkmenistan (167th).

Middle-East

Status quo holds in Iran, violence in Iraq

In Iran (166th), journalists are the target of very aggressive behaviour by the authorities, who tolerate no criticism or expression of political or social demands. As in the past, it is Iran that jails the largest number of journalists in the Middle East. Eight are currently held there. Many other journalists are facing serious, trumped-up charges that could result in their being imprisoned for criticising stoning or corruption, or for working for foreign news media.

In Iraq (157th), what journalists fear most are the armed groups that target them without the authorities ever finding a way to put an end to the litany of violence. More than 200 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Disappointment in the Maghreb

The performance of the countries of North Africa has been mixed, with insignificant rises by Algeria (123rd) and Tunisia (145th) and disturbing falls by Morocco (106th) and Egypt (146th) because of the large number of prosecutions brought against the press. Coverage of police abuses, use of torture during interrogation and the lack of judicial independence stang the Egyptian authorities into tightening the vice on independent journalists. Despite all the harassment, the independent media have openly displayed their lack of enthusiasm for the possibility that Gamal Mubarak could succeed his father as president.

Although better off than their Egyptian colleagues, Morocco’s journalists have in the past 12 months been the target of repeated attacks for which they were not prepared. Confiscation of newspaper issues, temporary closures of newspapers, summonses for questioning, imprisonment and severe sentences will leave lasting scars on the journalistic community, which is now very mistrustful of the government’s promises of reform.

Respite for Gulf journalists

There has been progress by some Gulf countries - Kuwait (63rd), United Arab Emirates (65th) and Qatar (79th). The authorities have displayed a tendency to be more open-minded and, in some cases, initiatives have been taken with a view to liberalising press laws. But self-censorship continues to be widespread in the press in these countries.

For the first time, Saudi Arabia (148th) has climbed out of the bottom 20. Saudi journalists enjoyed something of a respite in the past year. But the control exercised by the information ministry’s media surveillance committee prevents the Wahhabi-led kingdom from rising higher in the ranking.