Third annual worldwide press freedom report

For the third consecutive year, the association “Reporters without Borders” has published a worldwide press freedom index, on the 26th of October. More than a third of the world’s population live in countries where there is no press freedom. Forty-two media professionals lost their lives in 2003, just to keep us informed. Today, more than 130 journalists are in prison around the world simply for doing their job. In 2003, the freedom of the press was not safe again.

From this global report, “Reporters without Borders” compiled an index by asking its partner organisations ( 14 freedom of expression organisations on five continents), its 130 correspondents around the world, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists to answer questions to indicate the state of press freedom in 167 countries.

North Korea has distinguished itself sadly by occupying the last place in the classification, immediately preceded by Cuba. Burma, Laos, Vietnam or China are not far behind. In these countries, press freedom is threatened; an independent media either does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored on a daily basis. In fact, Cuba is the world’s biggest prison for the press because 29 journalists are detained on the island and most of them were given jail sentences of between 14 and 27 years at the end of grotesquely unfair trials. Concerning North Korea, this country has simply no idea what press diversity is and, as for China, it discourages anything that is not propaganda. But East Asia is not the only place to be characteristically dangerous for journalism. The Middle East does not guarantee freedom of information, nor the safety of journalists either. War has made Iraq the most deadly place on earth for journalists in recent years, with 44 killed there since fighting began in March 2003.

And there are plenty of other black spots around the world for press freedom: Turkmenistan, where information is dominated by official propaganda; Tunisia still does not offer adequate guarantees for free expression; in Africa, covering a war is proving to be more and more dangerous because armed conflicts persist in many countries.

Press freedom is finally all the more threatened where there is either too much political authority or where there is too little, so that the rule of law gives way to violence. But, if press freedom is largely flouted in developing countries, European or American countries cannot be seen as models.

In fact, if the greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe ( Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway ), the other European countries are not totally respectful.

Spain only ranks at the 39th position, notably because of the resumption of the ETA’s terror campaign against journalists. But this is also due to the manipulation of the news and the direct pressure placed on the state news media by the government of Prime Minister José Maria Aznar in the immediate aftermath of the Madrid bombing of March 2004.

Concerning France, the country is only in the 19th position because of the attempted murder of a journalist of the daily Le Figaro, whose car was riddled with bullets in Corsica in early September 2003.

In Russia, the biased coverage of the tragic hostage crisis in Beslan, in North Ossetia, was a flagrant illustration of the total control exercised by the Kremlin over the national TV station. Moreover, many Russian and foreign journalists were prevented from working and censorship still exists in Chechnya.

The practices of the European governments were finally revealed in current news, while the United States does not guarantee press freedom because of the eternal excuse of terrorism: violation of the privacy of sources, problems in granting press visas and the arrest of several journalists during anti-Bush demonstrations. In the United States’ pay, we can add something important: the US tanks stopping on a bridge in Baghdad and suddenly opening fire on the Palestine Hotel which housed at that time a large number of reporters.

The circumstances of war are worsening the attacks on press freedom, and sometimes, journalists are the main targets. This is notably the case in Iraq, where French journalists (G. Malbrunot and C. Chenot) and their Syrian guide are still unreleased hostages.

Anne-Cécile Guthmann For further information: www.rsf.org