Press freedom deteriorated worldwide last year, as even once unfettered nations such as Israel and Italy imposed new limits on media coverage, media analysts said on Thursday.
“Declines in Israel, Italy and Taiwan illustrate that established democracies with traditional open media are not immune to restricting freedom,” said Arch Puddington, research director for Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that planned to release the report yesterday in advance of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also unveiled its list of “10 worst countries to be a blogger,” naming Myanmar, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tunisia, China, Turkmenistan and Egypt in its “dishonor roll.”
Out of the 195 countries and territories covered in the Freedom House study, 70, or 36 percent, were rated “free,” 61 (31 percent), were rated “partly free” and 64 (33 percent) were rated “not free.”
Freedom House, which is funded by the US government and private groups and has been conducting an annual study of press freedom since 1980, said that 72 countries were rated free the previous year.
It said that while press freedom declined last year for the seventh year in a row, last year marked the first time it had deteriorated in every region.
“The journalism profession today is up against the ropes and fighting to stay alive, as pressures from governments, other powerful actors and the global economic crisis take an enormous toll,” executive director Jennifer Windsor said.
Freedom House said gains in South Asia and Africa were “overshadowed by a campaign of intimidation targeting independent media, particularly in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and North Africa.”
It said Israel, Italy and Hong Kong slipped from free to partly free status last year.
Among the worst-rated states were Belarus, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, the Palestinian territories, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.
In Asia, Cambodia fell to “not free” status because of increased violence against journalists, while Hong Kong slipped to “partly free “as Beijing exerted growing influence over the media.
China’s media environment remained “bleak,” while media in Taiwan faced assault and growing government pressure.
“China should have had a better record in 2008 and upheld its promise to ensure press freedom during the Olympics, but instead it chose to remain the world’s largest repressor of media freedom,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, managing editor of the study.
South Asia saw improvement in Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan, while Sri Lanka and Afghanistan suffered setbacks.
Myanmar also received poor marks from the CPJ.
“With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and imprisons people for years for posting critical material, Burma [Myanmar] is the worst place in the world to be a blogger,” it said.
Freedom House said the biggest drop in press freedom occurred in Central and Eastern Europe, with journalists murdered in Bulgaria and Croatia, assaulted in Bosnia and denied judicial protection in Russia.
The Middle East and North Africa continued to have the lowest level of press freedom.
Restrictions on journalists and official attempts to influence coverage during the Gaza conflict led to Israel’s downgrading to “partly free” status.
Freedom House said press freedom fell in Senegal, Madagascar, Chad, South Africa, Tanzania and others in sub-Saharan Africa, while Comoros, Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia showed improvement.
It said Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua registered major decline, while Guyana regained its “free” rating and Haiti and Uruguay saw significant improvement. Mexico’s score dropped because of increased violence.
Western Europe boasted the highest level of press freedom, although Italy slipped into the “partly free” category for several reasons, including the return of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister, Karlekar said.
Berlusconi controls a huge portion of the Italian media, including state radio and about 80 percent of television.
Other factors, she said, included an increase in libel suits against journalists and threats from organized crime groups.
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