The Official World Index On Censorship - The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2010

en.rsf.org...

Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly expressed its concern about the deteriorating press freedom situation in the European Union and the 2010 index confirms this trend. Thirteen of the EU’s 27 members are in the top 20 but some of the other 14 are very low in the ranking. Italy is 49th, Romania is 52nd and Greece and Bulgaria are tied at 70th. The European Union is not a homogenous whole as regards media freedom. On the contrary, the gap between good and bad performers continues to widen.

In recent years, Reporters Without Borders drew particular attention to the three countries that were always in the last three positions – Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan. This year, a bigger group of ten countries – marked by persecution of the media and a complete lack of news and information – are clumped together at the bottom.

Rank:

1. Finland / Iceland / Netherlands / Norway / Sweden / Switzerland - 0,00
7. Austria - 0,50
8. New Zealand - 1,50
9. Estonia / Ireland - 2,00
11. Denmark / Japan / Lithuania - 2,50
14. Belgium / Luxembourg / Malta - 4,00
17. Germany - 4,25
18. Australia - 5,38
19. United Kingdom - 6,00
20. United States of America - 6,75
21. Canada / Namibia - 7,00
23. Hungary / Czech Republic - 7,50
25. Jamaica - 7,67

These were the first 25 - click the link to see the whole list.

en.rsf.org...


And these are the bottom 10 of the Press Freedom Index 2010:

169. Rwanda - 81,00
170. Yemen - 82,13
171. China - 84,67
172. Sudan - 85,33
173. Syria - 91,50
174. Burma - 94,50
175. Iran - 94,56
176. Turkmenistan - 95,33
177. North Korea - 104,75
178. Eritrea - 105,00

There are some trends and changes from 2009 which I find interesting!

For example:

Denmark was at the top among the rest of the Nordic Countries at rank 1 with 0,00 - but this year they're at rank 11 with 2,50.

(perhaps they use more censoring and control because of the war in Afghanistan and more corporate influence of the press maybe?)

Greece was last year at rank 35 with 9,00 - but this year they're at rank 70 with 19,00.

(This is perhaps understandable because of the riots and economic turmoil perhaps? - the Governments easily clamp down on the press for more control during the crises)

The U.K and the U.S is more or less at the same place as last year.

France slip down one from rank 43 to 44 while Spain jump up in rank from 44 to 39 this year 2010.

Italy with Berlusconi is at the same rank 49 this year.

(Maybe Southern Europe is ranked this low because they used to have more authoritarian Governments in the past, so their press never got a fair chance to be more free even if they got more democracy? - well, perhaps growing corporate interests and influence of the press play a fair part of the equation as well?)


Some more links about this:

PDF version with graphic

blog.indexoncensorship.org...

Europe Gets the Stink Eye

Last year was a particularly grim one for journalists, as the number of murdered reporters rose 26 percent, while violence against journalists increased by a third. This year the Press Freedom Index casts a glaring eye on Europe, noting particular concern about the deteriorating press freedom situation in the European Union, as 2010 saw several EU countries take a dive in ranking.

en.ejo.ch...

Press Freedom Index 2010: U.S. ranks No. 20, Eritrea worst

Reporters Without Borders, the journalism watchdog group, released its Press Freedom Index for 2010, tracking media freedom across 178 countries. The report measures the violations of press freedom in the world, taking into account murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats as well as censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment.

voices.washingtonpost.com...

Well, there you have it! - if you want your daily news to be uncensored, then check out the English speaking news-outlets from the Nordic countries in Northen Europe - many of them have an English edition of their news as well!

S+F

It’s sad that freedom of the press is guaranteed in the first amendment of the United States Constitution yet we are number 20th on that list. We should be first. It does not surprise me though which countries appeared at the top of the list as the Nordic nations are always performing at the top of the list on almost every positive factor.

Today I posted a thread which details the new Corruption Perception Index and the countries at the top of the list are the Nordic countries as usual. The West should be a place where freedom of the press and the rights of the journalists prevail not the censorship by government and the propaganda by corporations (or vice-versa). Freedom of the press is one of the most important contributors to a free and prosperous society which permits the freedom and expansion of thought and ideas.

This should be one of the key contributors in determining the level of freedom a nation has.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

reply to post by Misoir


Thanks for the reply mate!

It’s sad that freedom of the press is guaranteed in the first amendment of the United States Constitution yet we are number 20th on that list. We should be first. It does not surprise me though which countries appeared at the top of the list as the Nordic nations are always performing at the top of the list on almost every positive factor.

Yes, it's a quite sad development in many countries - the U.S used to be very good with news in the past, but that was of course during a time when they actually reported the news in a more neutral way without any personal opinions and spin.

I really hope that the Nordic nations can keep the media giants and corporations like Rupert Murdoch's influence over the media out as long as possible - well, they can't really buy the Public TV news stations because they are owned by the Governments, but the newspapers are perhaps in more danger in the future?

Today I posted a thread which details the new Corruption Perception Index and the countries at the top of the list are the Nordic countries as usual. The West should be a place where freedom of the press and the rights of the journalists prevail not the censorship by government and the propaganda by corporations (or vice-versa). Freedom of the press is one of the most important contributors to a free and prosperous society which permits the freedom and expansion of thought and ideas.

I agree 100% of course!

But as people are now waking up to see the reality and the fairy tales of the politicians en masse! so what the heck should the corrupted corporate puppet politicians do?

They are now of course both desperate and scared of losing their control, and unfortunately it's going to get a lot worse regarding the control of the press and censorship of our media-outlets in these coming years in many countries - I think we'll some of that development in Northen Europe at some point as well to be honest.

I'm going to check out that Corruption Perception Index thread of yours as well!

I'm surprised to see the US and UK are still relatively high on this list. I find this suspicious. I wonder how the list is compiled, eg. who fills in the questionnaires? I'm not casting aspersions on RWB here, just thinking that maybe those who fill in the questionnaire present a picture which isn't entirely accurate.