18 countries in the Top Twenty are from Europe. The biggest advocate for freedom of speech is on 53rd position behind places such a South Africa, Ghana, Bolivia etc. Make me wonder what the fuzz about democratising the world is all about. 
[quote=âratlungâ]18 countries in the Top Twenty are from Europe. The biggest advocate for freedom of speech is on 53rd position behind places such a South Africa, Ghana, Bolivia etc. Make me wonder what the fuzz about democratising the world is all about. 
rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19388[/quote]
Leaving aside the âfuzz about democratising the worldâ (as this subject clearly has plenty of existing threads devoted to it one way or the other), the index itself surprised me in the criteria it seemed to emphasize.
Just reading the title âWorldwide Press Freedom Indexâ, my impression was that the focus was going to be on censorship and freedom of speech. Interestingly, however, although censorship was apparently one factor in the index, the majority of discussion (and, it appeared, the majority of criteria used to compile the index) focused on violence and reprisals from non-governmental actors.
Denmark, for example, tumbled from 1st to 19th not because the Danish government cracked down on freedom of speech in any way, but because some violent fanatics sent death threats to the author of the famous cartoons. Lebanon fell 50 places, not because it imposed any kind of anti-free-speech measures, but because it was being bombed â and that made it a dangerous place to work if you are a journalist.
Essentially, the list appears to be a measure of âWhat are the safest countries in the world in which to live if you are a journalist?â. Presumably a list of âWhere is the safest place to live if you are [some other occupation]â would look fairly similar, with low crime countries in northern Europe generally toward the top, medium crime countries like the US generally toward the middle, and high crime/violence countries generally at the bottom.
To be fair, RWB is very up-front in the article and in the âHow the index was compiledâ section that war and citizen-on-citizen violence were central components to the index â so Iâm certainly not saying there is anything wrong with the list theyâve developed. It just wasnât really about what I thought it was going to be about. Oh well â I often run into the same issue when I go to the cinema and choose a film based solely on the title. 
Cheers,
H
[quote=âratlungâ]18 countries in the Top Twenty are from Europe. The biggest advocate for freedom of speech is on 53rd position behind places such a South Africa, Ghana, Bolivia etc. Make me wonder what the fuzz about democratising the world is all about. [/quote]AhhâŚlets look at this, as mentioned by Hobbes, this poll isnât really about âFreedom of the Pressâ but is based on other criteria that is quite a bit more subjective.
[quote]The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of ânational securityâ to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his âwar on terrorism.â The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the mediaâs right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.
Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.[/quote]
While I sure the above mentioned persons, and their âsupportersâ feel they are being singled out for persecution, one should remember there is a war going on.
In the case of the 2nd individual, Mr. Sami al-Haj, to use one of his several names he uses, it was noted that he repeatedly came up with pictures of terrorists firing on Coalition Forces. That is, he was with the terrorists as [b]they fired up US, Canadian and other friendly troops. That did raise a few question, yes.
In the 1st bolded paragraph, we see what is obviously a very subjective method of judgment that clearly reveals a mind-set in opposition to the current US administrations views on National Security in this time of war.
This happens. And Federal Courts do trump state courts in matters of National Security in times of war.
[quote]Reporters Without Borders compiled the Index by asking the 14 freedom of expression organizations that are its partners worldwide, its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The Index covers 168 nations. Others were not included for lack of data about them.[/quote] I think that the results are exactly as one would expect⌠