Press Freedom Index 2014

[Syt]

http://www.dw.de/journalist-kidnappings-attacks-on-increase-press-freedom-report/a-18133482

Journalist kidnappings, attacks on increase: press freedom report

Attacks and kidnappings of journalists have soared over the past year, the latest Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders has said. In all, 66 journalists were killed in 2014.

Reporters without Borders said on Tuesday that there had been a sharp spike in kidnappings of reporters, with attacks on reporters growing more 'barbaric.'

In its latest report on press freedom, it said journalists face a new dangerous new threat - as shown by the Islamist militant beheadings of reporters in Syria this year.
"Rarely have reporters been murdered with such a barbaric sense of propaganda, shocking the entire world," Reporters Without Borders said.

66 journalists were killed this year, down from 71 in 2013, although the nature of the killings was troubling, the report said. The deadliest countries for journalists' lives were Syria, where 15 died, followed by Iran, Eritrea, eastern Ukraine, Iraq and Libya.

The report also said freedom of information decreases substantially during conflict.

"The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts of freedom of information and its protagonists," Reporters without Borders said.

This year's report covered 180 countries. Finland was the best place for journalists to continue their work- the Scandinavian nation retained its position for the fourth year running, followed by the Netherlands and Norway. Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea were, once again, at the bottom of the list.

National security takes priority

The report said that the ranking of some countries this year was affected by a "tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed."

Information was sacrificed in the name of national security and surveillance, the report said, citing the example of the US, which fell 13 place to 46 following "increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks."

The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning, and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden "were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in public interest," the report said.

mg/jr (AFP, Reuters)

name   an2014   dif2014
Finland   1   ( - )
Netherlands   2   ( - )
Norway   3   ( - )
Luxembourg   4   ( - )
Andorra   5   ( - )
Liechtenstein   6   (+ 1)
Denmark   7   (- 1)
Iceland   8   (+ 1)
New Zealand   9   (- 1)
Sweden   10   ( - )
Estonia   11   ( - )
Austria   12   ( - )
Czech Republic   13   (+ 3)
Germany   14   (+ 3)
Switzerland   15   (- 1)
Ireland   16   (- 1)
Jamaica   17   (- 4)
Canada   18   (+ 2)
Poland   19   (+ 3)
Slovakia   20   (+ 3)
Costa Rica   21   (- 3)
Namibia   22   (- 3)
Belgium   23   (- 2)
Cape Verde   24   (+ 1)
Cyprus   25   (- 1)
Uruguay   26   (+ 1)
Ghana   27   (+ 3)
Australia   28   (- 2)
Belize   29   ( - )
Portugal   30   (- 1)
Suriname   31   (+ 1)
Lithuania   32   (+ 2)
United Kingdom   33   (- 3)
Slovenia   34   (+ 2)
Spain   35   (+ 2)
Antigua and Barbuda   36   (- 1)
Latvia   37   (+ 3)
El Salvador   38   (+ 1)
France   39   (- 1)
Samoa   40   (+ 9)
Botswana   41   ( - )
South Africa   42   (+ 11)
Trinidad and Tobago   43   (+ 2)
Papua New Guinea   44   (- 2)
Romania   45   (- 2)
United States   46   (- 13)
Haiti   47   (+ 3)
Niger   48   (- 4)
Italy   49   (+ 9)
Taiwan   50   (- 2)
Malta   51   (- 5)
Burkina Faso   52   (- 5)
Comoros   53   (- 1)
Serbia   54   (+ 10)
Argentina   55   ( - )
Republic of Moldova   56   ( - )
Republic of Korea   57   (- 6)
Chile   58   (+ 3)
Japan   59   (- 5)
Mauritania   60   (+ 8)
Hong Kong   61   (- 2)
Senegal   62   (- 2)
Tonga   63   (+ 4)
Hungary   64   (- 7)
Croatia   65   ( - )
Bosnia and Herzegovina   66   (+ 3)
Guyana   67   (+ 3)
Dominican Republic   68   (+ 13)
United Republic Of Tanzania   69   (+ 2)
Mauritius   70   (- 7)
Nicaragua   71   (+ 8)
Sierra Leone   72   (- 10)
Malawi   73   (+ 3)
Lesotho   74   (+ 8)
Benin   75   (+ 5)
Togo   76   (+ 8)
Timor-Leste   77   (+ 14)
Armenia   78   (- 3)
Mozambique   79   (- 5)
Kosovo   80   (+ 6)
Madagascar   81   (+ 8)
Republic of the Congo   82   (- 5)
Cyprus North   83   (+ 12)
Georgia   84   (+ 17)
Albania   85   (+ 18)
Guinea-Bissau   86   (+ 7)
Panama   87   (+ 25)
Mongolia   88   (+ 11)
Liberia   89   (+ 9)
Kenya   90   (- 18)
Kuwait   91   (- 13)
Bhutan   92   (- 9)
Zambia   93   (- 20)
Bolivia   94   (+ 16)
Ecuador   95   (+ 25)
Israel   96   (+ 17)
Kyrgyzstan   97   (+ 10)
Gabon   98   (- 8)
Greece   99   (- 14)
Bulgaria   100   (- 12)
Côte d'Ivoire   101   (- 4)
Guinea   102   (- 15)
Seychelles   103   (- 9)
Peru   104   (+ 2)
Paraguay   105   (- 13)
Lebanon   106   (- 4)
Fiji   107   (+ 1)
Maldives   108   (- 4)
Central African   109   (- 43)
Uganda   110   (- 5)
Brazil   111   (- 2)
Nigeria   112   (+ 4)
Qatar   113   (- 2)
Montenegro   114   ( - )
Tajikistan   115   (+ 9)
Venezuela   116   (+ 2)
Brunei Darussalam   117   (+ 6)
United Arab Emirates   118   (- 3)
South Sudan   119   (+ 6)
Nepal   120   (- 1)
Algeria   121   (+ 5)
Mali   122   (- 22)
Macedonia   123   (- 6)
Angola   124   (+ 7)
Guatemala   125   (- 29)
Colombia   126   (+ 4)
Ukraine   127   ( - )
Afghanistan   128   (+ 1)
Honduras   129   (- 1)
Thailand   130   (+ 6)
Cameroon   131   (- 10)
Indonesia   132   (+ 8)
Tunisia   133   (+ 6)
Oman   134   (+ 8)
Zimbabwe   135   (- 1)
Morocco   136   (+ 1)
Libya   137   (- 5)
Palestine   138   (+ 9)
Chad   139   (- 17)
India   140   (+ 1)
Jordan   141   (- 6)
Burundi   142   (- 9)
Ethiopia   143   (- 5)
Cambodia   144   ( - )
Myanmar   145   (+ 7)
Bangladesh   146   (- 1)
Malaysia   147   (- 1)
Russian Federation   148   (+ 1)
Philippines   149   (- 1)
Singapore   150   ( - )
The Democratic Republic Of The Congo   151   (- 8)
Mexico   152   (+ 2)
Iraq   153   (- 2)
Turkey   154   (+ 1)
Gambia   155   (- 2)
Swaziland   156   ( - )
Belarus   157   (+ 1)
Pakistan   158   (+ 2)
Egypt   159   ( - )
Azerbaijan   160   (- 3)
Kazakhstan   161   ( - )
Rwanda   162   ( - )
Bahrain   163   (+ 3)
Saudi Arabia   164   ( - )
Sri Lanka   165   (- 2)
Uzbekistan   166   (- 1)
Yemen   167   (+ 3)
Equatorial Guinea   168   (- 1)
Djibouti   169   (+ 1)
Cuba   170   (+ 2)
Lao People's Democratic Republic   171   (- 2)
Sudan   172   (- 1)
Islamic Republic of Iran   173   (+ 2)
Vietnam   174   (- 1)
China   175   (- 1)
Somalia   176   ( - )
Syrian Arab Republic   177   ( - )
Turkmenistan   178   ( - )
Democratic People's Republic of Korea   179   ( - )
Eritrea   180   ( - )

Didn't expect places like Greece score so badly.


Full report and rankings here: http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

[Martinus]

Poland is surprisingly high on that list.

[derspiess]

Eritrea is still at the bottom?  You'd think they'd make one small move to move up at least a notch or two and let the glorious DPRK assume that spot.

[The Brain]

Sweden greater freedom of the press than the US? I take it the people who made this are on crack.

[Ideologue]

Before or after the Sony hack?

[derspiess]

Sweden greater freedom of the press than the US? I take it the people who made this are on crack.

Reporters Without Borders have a bug up their asses about the "whistleblowers" Snowden and Manning not being deemed heroes and given medals but the US gubmint.

[The Brain]

Sweden greater freedom of the press than the US? I take it the people who made this are on crack.

Reporters Without Borders have a bug up their asses about the "whistleblowers" Snowden and Manning not being deemed heroes and given medals but the US gubmint.

They do come across as retards.

[Norgy]

Obviously being beaten by Papaua New Guinea will make Americans a bit butthurt. 

[Admiral Yi]

I stopped being butthurt by these indices about the same time I stopped taking the Nobel Peace Prize seriously.

[CountDeMoney]

Reporters Without Borders

That's Journalistes Sans Frontières to you, pal.

[Sheilbh]

Reporters Without Borders have a bug up their asses about the "whistleblowers" Snowden and Manning not being deemed heroes and given medals but the US gubmint.

Whistleblowers goes a bit further than that. The Obama administration has pursued and prosecuted whistleblowers/sources under the Espionage Act more than all previous administrations combined. It's not just the Snowdens and the Mannings but, for example, intelligence or State officials briefing journalists about, say, Iran's nuclear program or North Korea. It's considerably more than was the case under W for example who I seem to remember got a lot of stick for chasing whistleblowers.

I think it's defensible personally, but it is a departure (as with civil liberties) from Obama's promises in 2008 and is arguably a bad thing for a free press if the government is aggressively looking to shut down sources.

Personally I think the UK should be lower. Since the phone hacking case there's been a big police investigation (Elveden) into corruption in public office which has largely been police officers, prison guards, hospital staff etc selling details to journalists. I think that in itself is fine, but I'm very uncomfortable with the way the police and the CPS have been charging journalists with conspiracy or as accomplices to corruption. So far I don't think they've actually had any successful convictions (because juries are sensible) but by all accounts it's definitely having a chilling effect.

[CountDeMoney]

They're not whistleblowers, Shiv.

[Sheilbh]

What do you mean?

[Martinus]

Sweden greater freedom of the press than the US? I take it the people who made this are on crack.

Reporters Without Borders have a bug up their asses about the "whistleblowers" Snowden and Manning not being deemed heroes and given medals but the US gubmint.

They do come across as retards.

Don't be transphobic. 

[MadImmortalMan]

They're snitches.