REPORTERS WITHOUT Borders’ annual world press freedom index showed that 2011 was a rich year for change, especially in the Arab world, but also one that saw growing crackdowns in media freedom worldwide.
Eritrea was the country with least media freedom, in 179th place, with North Korea one place behind.
“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy,” the group said as it released its 10th annual index.
Reporters Without Borders is a Paris-based non-governmental organisation that seeks to defend journalists’ freedom to work and combat censorship internationally.
In Afghanistan (150th) and Pakistan (151st), reporters remained under constant threat from the Taliban, religious extremists, separatist movements and political groups. With 10 deaths last year, Pakistan was the world’s most dangerous country for journalists for the second year in a row.
“Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them,” it said.
The country with the freest media in the world was Finland, followed by Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Austria. Ireland came in 15th in the index.
Elsewhere within the European Union, countries such as Bulgaria (80th), Greece (70th) and Italy (61st) failed to address the issue of media freedom violations, largely because of a lack of political will.
Libya came in 154th in the list, while Yemen was in 171th place.
“The future of both of these countries remains uncertain, and the place they will allow the media is undecided. The same goes for Egypt, which fell 39 places to 166th place.”
Syria was 176th, because journalists were unable to work because of total censorship, widespread surveillance, indiscriminate violence and government manipulation.
The report also highlights how pro-democracy movements that tried to emulate the example of the Arab revolutions were brutally suppressed. Vietnam (172nd) saw many arrests, while China (174th) stepped up its system of controlling news and information in response to public dissatisfaction with corruption and other injustices.
The biggest falls in the index were in Africa – Djibouti fell 49 places to 159th, Malawi (146th) fell 67 places and Uganda fell 43 places to 139th.
