From Reporters Without Borders:
Only peace protects freedoms in post-9/11 world
“It is not economic prosperity but peace that guarantees press freedom. That is the main lesson to be drawn from the world press freedom index that Reporters Without Borders compiles every year and from the 2008 edition, released today. Another conclusion from the index - in which the bottom three rungs are again occupied by the “infernal trio” of Turkmenistan (171st), North Korea (172nd) and Eritrea (173rd) - is that the international community’s conduct towards authoritarian regimes such as Cuba (169th) and China (167th) is not effective enough to yield results.
“The post-9/11 world is now clearly drawn,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Destabilized and on the defensive, the leading democracies are gradually eroding the space for freedoms. The economically most powerful dictatorships arrogantly proclaim their authoritarianism, exploiting the international community’s divisions and the ravages of the wars carried out in the name of the fight against terrorism. Religious and political taboos are taking greater hold by the year in countries that used to be advancing down the road of freedom.””
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The analysis is pretty interesting. A sad but funny part is this comment:
“Only a few countries have risen significantly in the ranking. Lebanon (66th), for example, has climbed back to a more logical position after the end of the bomb attacks on influential journalists of recent years.”
Yeah, not bombing journalist is a good way to climb the charts. Laugh or cry people, laugh or cry.
The US didn’t snag the #36 spot. It actually tied with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, South Africa, Spain and Taiwan for that spot. Who got #1? It’s a tie between Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway.
Posted by Vixen as News at 8:50 PM CDT