Seven Asian countries including junta-ruled Burma are at the bottom of a Press Freedom Index released last week by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF or Reporters Without Borders).

BY ACE ALEGRE
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 37, October 21-27, 2007

Seven Asian countries including junta-ruled Burma are at the bottom of a Press Freedom Index released last week by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF or Reporters Without Borders).

The Philippines (at 128th), earlier tagged as the second most dangerous place for journalists next to war-torn Iraq, is not among the seven though. It had fewer murders than in previous years, said RSF Asia Pacific desk chief Vincent Brossels. “And President Gloria-Arroyo’s associates brought fewer defamation actions against journalists and news media,” he explained.

Aside from Burma, the other Asian countries at the bottom 20 are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China and North Korea.

RSF said they are particularly disturbed by the situation in Burma (ranked 164th). “The military junta’s crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country,” Brossels said. Journalists in Burma continue to work “under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads,” Brossels also said.

The Paris-based press freedom watchdog has been measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world for six years already.

Of the 20 countries also at the bottom of the index, five are African (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea), four are in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestinian Territories and Iran), three are former Soviet republics (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and one is in the Americas (Cuba).

Brossels added they regret that China (placing 163rd) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the RSF official said, “the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope.”

North Korea displaced

Eritrea, Brossels csaid, has replaced North Korea at last place in the index.

“There is nothing surprising about this,” Brossels said though.”Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last, Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom.”

He reported that the privately-owned press in that country had been reportedly banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticize the regime are reportedly thrown in prison. “We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate,” Brossels said.

Outside Europe – in which the top 14 countries are located – no region of the world has been free of censorship or violence towards journalists, the RSF said.

Press freedom affected by military coups

Brossels said that military coups that were supposed to restore democratic order in Thailand (135th) and Fiji (107th) in fact led to a deterioration in the situation of the news media.

Based on RSF’s documentation, the Bangkok-based media continue to be relatively free, but the military prevented the deposed prime minister’s supporters from launching a TV station, and several website editors and bloggers were arrested.

In Fiji, there were several weeks of tension between the army and journalists, and a foreign reporter was expelled. Thereafter, the pressure focused on those voicing criticism online, the RSF report also said.

Brossels said Pakistan (ranked 152nd) continues to get a low ranking. Authority is allegedly concentrated in the Army in that country led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999.

War as major stumbling block

The RSF said that war is largely responsible for the bad showing of countries like Somalia (159th) and Sri Lanka (156th). In these countries, said Brossels, journalists have a hard time working while killings continue and censorship was stepped up. Journalists there are accused of bipartisanism and their rights are not recognized, said the RSF official.

Meanwhile, the Taliban and their allies keep threatening journalists in Afghanistan (142nd). Brossels said an Italian reporter’s driver and fixer were beheaded while several radio stations were attacked by armed groups.

Interestingly, the RSF reported, Nepal (137th) has surged more than 20 places in the ranking. The end of the war and the return to democratic rule resulted in a revival of basic freedoms and created new space for the media there. However, ethnic violence in the south of the country exposed journalists to new dangers.

Other countries including the Philippines climbed too. Cambodia (85th) climbed a few notches because of the government’s decision to decriminalize press offenses, said Brossels. No journalist was imprisoned, although some journalists were targeted by death threats, especially when they covered corruption.(Bulatlat.com)

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