Tweet
UK ranked 24th for press freedom
Chris Tryhorn
Tuesday October 16, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Britain has been outranked by more than 20 countries including Estonia, Portugal and Trinidad and Tobago in a survey of press freedom around the world.
The UK was rated 24th in an index of 169 countries published today by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which examined various factors such as the way journalists are treated, freedom of speech, freedom of information and diversity of media ownership.
Britain's position is in line with RSF's surveys over the past five years, which have put the UK between a high of 21st in 2002 and 27th last year.
However, among the G8 club of industrialised nations, only Canada (18th) and Germany (20th) rank above the UK.
France was ranked 31st, Italy at 35, Japan at 37, with the US in 48th place.
Russia, which this month marked the first anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was placed 144th and was "not progressing", RSF said.
"Anna Politkovskaya's murder in October 2006, the failure to punish those responsible for murdering journalists, and the still glaring lack of diversity in the media, especially the broadcast media, weighed heavily in the evaluation of press freedom in Russia," RSF added.
The survey found that the east African country of Eritrea had the least free media in the world, displacing North Korea.
"The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian president Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison," RSF said.
"We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate."
China was seventh from the bottom of the list, at 163rd, just ahead of Burma, Cuba and Iran. Rival emerging superpower India came in at 120th.
The top of the list was dominated by European countries, which made up 18 of the top 20, the others being New Zealand (15th) and Trinidad and Tobago (19th).
Iceland and Norway were voted joint top, with Estonia and Slovakia sharing third place.
But last year's joint leader, the Netherlands, fell to 12th place after two journalists were held in custody for two days for refusing to reveal their sources to the judicial authorities.
In another black mark for Europe, Bulgaria (51st) and Poland (56th) were identified as the continent's "bad boys", the only EU countries outside the top 50.
RSF compiled the index by sending a questionnaire to 15 freedom of expression organisations, its network of 130 correspondents, and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. The survey contained 50 questions about press freedom.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
Chris Tryhorn
Tuesday October 16, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Britain has been outranked by more than 20 countries including Estonia, Portugal and Trinidad and Tobago in a survey of press freedom around the world.
The UK was rated 24th in an index of 169 countries published today by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which examined various factors such as the way journalists are treated, freedom of speech, freedom of information and diversity of media ownership.
Britain's position is in line with RSF's surveys over the past five years, which have put the UK between a high of 21st in 2002 and 27th last year.
However, among the G8 club of industrialised nations, only Canada (18th) and Germany (20th) rank above the UK.
France was ranked 31st, Italy at 35, Japan at 37, with the US in 48th place.
Russia, which this month marked the first anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was placed 144th and was "not progressing", RSF said.
"Anna Politkovskaya's murder in October 2006, the failure to punish those responsible for murdering journalists, and the still glaring lack of diversity in the media, especially the broadcast media, weighed heavily in the evaluation of press freedom in Russia," RSF added.
The survey found that the east African country of Eritrea had the least free media in the world, displacing North Korea.
"The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian president Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison," RSF said.
"We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate."
China was seventh from the bottom of the list, at 163rd, just ahead of Burma, Cuba and Iran. Rival emerging superpower India came in at 120th.
The top of the list was dominated by European countries, which made up 18 of the top 20, the others being New Zealand (15th) and Trinidad and Tobago (19th).
Iceland and Norway were voted joint top, with Estonia and Slovakia sharing third place.
But last year's joint leader, the Netherlands, fell to 12th place after two journalists were held in custody for two days for refusing to reveal their sources to the judicial authorities.
In another black mark for Europe, Bulgaria (51st) and Poland (56th) were identified as the continent's "bad boys", the only EU countries outside the top 50.
RSF compiled the index by sending a questionnaire to 15 freedom of expression organisations, its network of 130 correspondents, and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. The survey contained 50 questions about press freedom.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".