Press freedom has improved in the US in the last year and the country jumped 20 places to No. 20 on this year’s international ranking by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released on Tuesday.
The media watchdog said US President Barack Obama taking up the presidency in January brought a new approach in Washington after eight years under former US president George W. Bush, while some European countries fell in the group’s Press Freedom Index.
RSF expressed concerns about US attitudes toward the media in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it said journalists had been injured or arrested by the US military.
“President Obama may have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but his country is still fighting two wars,” the group said. “Despite a slight improvement, the attitude of the United States towards the media in Iraq and Afghanistan is worrying.”
The US came in just behind Britain on the press freedom index of 175 countries, while China was at No. 168. Afghanistan No. 149 and Iraq at No. 145.
As the Taipei Times reported yesterday, Taiwan’s press freedom ranking slipped by 23 spots to 59th this year from 36th last year. RSF attributed the slide to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) interference in state and privately owned media and violence by “certain activists.”
Reporters Without Borders said that in the US the House of Representatives this year backed legislation to allow journalists to protect their sources — it has not yet been voted on in the Senate — and the Obama administration had promised better access to public information.
The group said civil liberties were violated in the name of national security during the Bush era.
European countries hold the top 13 spots, led by Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. France fell eight spots to No. 43, Slovakia dropped 37 places to No. 44 and Italy fell five spots to No. 49.
“Europe should be setting an example as regards civil liberties. How can you condemn human rights violations abroad if you do not behave irreproachably at home?” said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-Francois Julliard.
Press freedom in France has been worsening for several years, the group said, with the authorities placing growing pressure on journalists to reveal sources and proposing legislation that could reduce their freedom.
In Italy, Reporters Without Borders said press freedom was being stifled by threats from the Mafia and various lawsuits being brought or considered by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi against news organizations.
The group also drew attention to Israel, which fell 47 places to No. 93, losing its place as the top country for press freedom in the region and falling behind Kuwait at No. 60, Lebanon at No. 61 and the United Arab Emirates at No. 86.
“Israel has begun to use the same methods internally as it does outside its own territory,” said Reporters Without Borders, adding that journalists had been arrested and imprisoned and that military censorship also posed a threat.
But as a result of actions during Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in December and January, Reporters Without Borders ranked the country at No. 150 for its “extraterritorial actions.”
“The toll of the war was very heavy. Around 20 journalists in the Gaza Strip were injured by the Israeli military forces and three were killed while covering the offensive,” it said.
At the bottom of the list were Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, “where media are so suppressed they are nonexistent,” Reporters Without Borders said.
Iran dropped to No. 172 from No. 166, with Reporters Without Borders saying the disputed reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had fostered a paranoia about journalists and bloggers.
“Automatic prior censorship, state surveillance of journalists, mistreatment, journalists forced to flee the country, illegal arrests and imprisonment — such is the state of press freedom this year in Iran,” the group said.
The ranking was compiled from hundreds of questionnaires completed by journalists and media experts around the world and reflecting press freedom violations that took place between Sept. 1 last year and Aug. 31 this year. The exact number of questionnaires completed was not immediately available.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to