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Press Freedom Index 2016

Press Freedom Index 2011/12

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011/12

Reporters Without Borders is publishing annually a worldwide index of countries according to their respect for press freedom.

World Map of Press Freedom 2012

Access to information is a fundamental human right.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. (Article 19, UN resolution: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; March 1976)

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This right is heavily violated in many countries, through censorship and suppression of information, by oppression and persecution of journalists and the media. State control of domestic media, and internet control are their favored means.
These countries fear the "fourth estate", the power behind the media and the information they might provide. RWB described it years ago: "Anyone out of step is harshly dealt with. A word too many, a commentary that deviates from the official line or a wrongly-spelled name and the author may be thrown in prison or draw the wrath of those in power. Harassment, psychological pressure, intimidation and round-the-clock surveillance are routine."

The lame excuse of the violators: The government knows best what is good for the people, we want to protect our people from bad influence, especially from outside. This argument is supported partly by the UN resolution: The right of information "may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals."

Reporters Without Borders compiled this Index of 167 countries by asking its partner organizations and its network of correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, legal experts and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions designed to assess a country's level of press freedom. Some countries are not mentioned for lack of information about them. Syria, Bahrain and Yemen get worst ever rankings “This year’s index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th annual press freedom index. “Many media paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of survival for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also highlighted the leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news. “Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them. “It is no surprise that the same trio of countries, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea, absolute dictatorships that permit no civil liberties, again occupy the last three places in the index. This year, they are immediately preceded at the bottom by Syria, Iran and China, three countries that seem to have lost contact with reality as they have been sucked into an insane spiral of terror, and by Bahrain and Vietnam, quintessential oppressive regimes. Other countries such as Uganda and Belarus have also become much more repressive. “This year’s index finds the same group of countries at its head, countries such as Finland, Norway and Netherlands that respect basic freedoms. This serves as a reminder that media independence can only be maintained in strong democracies and that democracy needs media freedom. It is worth noting the entry of Cape Verde and Namibia into the top twenty, two African countries where no attempts to obstruct the media were reported in 2011.” Protest movements The Arab world was the motor of history in 2011 but the Arab uprisings have had contrasting political outcomes so far, with Tunisia and Bahrain at opposite ends of the scale. Tunisia (134th) rose 30 places in index and, with much suffering, gave birth to a democratic regime that has not yet fully accepted a free and independent press. Bahrain (173rd) fell 29 places because of its relentless crackdown on pro-democracy movements, its trials of human rights defenders and its suppression of all space for freedom. While Libya (154th) turned the page on the Gaddafi era, Yemen succumbed to violence between President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s opponents and supporters and languished in 171st position. The future of both of these countries remains uncertain, and the place they will allow the media is undecided. The same goes for Egypt, which fell 39 places to 166th because the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in power since February, dashed the hopes of democrats by continuing the Mubarak dictatorship’s practices. There were three periods of exceptional violence for journalists: in February, November and December. Already poorly ranked in 2010, Syria fell further in the index, to 176th position, because total censorship, widespread surveillance, indiscriminate violence and government manipulation made it impossible for journalists to work. Elsewhere in the world, pro-democracy movements that tried to follow the Arab example were ruthlessly suppressed. Many arrests were made in Vietnam (172nd). In China (174th), the government responded to regional and local protests and to public impatience with scandals and acts of injustice by feverishly reinforcing its system of controlling news and information, carrying out extrajudicial arrests and stepping up Internet censorship. There was a dramatic rise in the number of arrests in Azerbaijan (162nd), where Ilham Aliyev’s autocratic government did not hesitate to jail netizens, abduct opposition journalists and bar foreign reporters in order to impose a news blackout on the unrest. Led by President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda (139th) launched an unprecedented crackdown on opposition movements and independent media after the elections in February. Similarly, Chile (80th) fell 47 places because of its many freedom of information violations, committed very often by the security forces during student protests. The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests. Several European countries fall far behind rest of continent The index has highlighted the divergence of some European countries from the rest of the continent. The crackdown on protests after President Lukashenko’s reelection caused Belarus to fall 14 places to 168th. At a time when it is portraying itself as a regional model, Turkey (148th) took a big step backwards and lost 10 places. Far from carrying out promised reforms, the judicial system launched a wave of arrests of journalists that was without precedent since the military dictatorship. Within the European Union, the index reflects a continuation of the very marked distinction between countries such as Finland and Netherlands that have always had a good evaluation and countries such as Bulgaria (80th), Greece (70th) and Italy (61st) that fail to address the issue of their media freedom violations, above all because of a lack of political will. There was little progress from France, which went from 44th to 38th, or from Spain (39th) and Romania (47th). Media freedom is a challenge that needs addressing more than ever in the Balkans, which want to join the European Union but are suffering the negative effects of the economic crisis. Endemic violence Many countries are marked by a culture of violence towards the media that has taken a deep hold. It will be hard to reverse the trends in these countries without an effective fight against impunity. Mexico (149th) and Honduras (135th) are two cases in point. Pakistan (151st) was the world’s deadliest country for journalists for the second year running. Somalia (164th), which has been at war for 20 years, shows no sign of finding a way out of the chaos in which journalists are paying a heavy price. In Iran (175th), hounding and humiliating journalists has been part of officialdom’s political culture for years. The regime feeds on persecution of the media. Iraq (152nd) fell back 22 places and is now worryingly approaching its 2008 position (158th). Noteworthy changes South Sudan, a new nation facing many challenges, has entered the index in a respectable position (111th) for what is a breakaway from one of the worst ranked countries, Sudan (170th). Burma (169th) has a slightly better position than in previous years as a result of political changes in recent months that have raised hopes but need to be confirmed. Niger (29th) achieved the biggest rise in a single year, 75 places, thanks to a successful political transition. It was Africa that also saw the biggest falls in the index. Djibouti, a discreet little dictatorship in the Horn of Africa, fell 49 places to 159th. Malawi (146th) fell 67 places because of the totalitarian tendencies of its president, Bingu Wa Mutharika. Uganda, mentioned above, fell 43 places to 139th. Finally, Côte d’Ivoire fell 41 places to 159th because the media were badly hit by the fighting between the supporters of rival presidents Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. One of the biggest falls in Latin America was by Brazil, which plunged 41 places to 99th because the high level of violence resulted in the deaths of three journalists and bloggers.	Rank		Country	Region	Score
	1		Finland	Northern Europe	-10,00	==
	-		Norway	Northern Europe	-10,00	==
	3		Estonia	Northern Europe	-9,00
	-		Netherlands	Western Europe	-9,00
	5		Austria	Western Europe	-8,00
	6		Iceland	Northern Europe	-7,00
	-		Luxembourg	Western Europe	-7,00
	8		Switzerland	Western Europe	-6,20
	9		Cape Verde	Western Africa	-6,00
	10		Canada	North America	-5,67
	-		Denmark	Northern Europe	-5,67
	12		Sweden	Northern Europe	-5,50
	13		New Zealand	Australia/Oceania	-5,33
	14		Czech Republic	Eastern Europe	-5,00
	15		Ireland	Northern Europe	-4,00
	16		Cyprus	Middle East	-3,00
	-		Jamaica	Caribbean	-3,00
	-		Germany	Western Europe	-3,00
	19		Costa Rica	Central America	-2,25
	20		Belgium	Western Europe	-2,00
	-		Namibia	Southern Africa	-2,00
	22		Japan	Eastern Asia	-1,00
	-		Suriname	South America	-1,00
	24		Poland	Eastern Europe	-0,67
	25		Mali	Western Africa	0,00
	-		OECS *	Caribbean	0,00
	-		Slovakia	Eastern Europe	0,00
	28		United Kingdom	Northern Europe	2,00
	29		Niger	Western Africa	2,50
	30		Australia	Australia/Oceania	4,00
	-		Lithuania	Northern Europe	4,00
	32		Uruguay	South America	4,25
	33		Portugal	Southern Europe	5,33
	34		Tanzania	Eastern Africa	6,00
	35		Papua New Guinea	Melanesia/Oceania	9,00
	36		Slovenia	Southern Europe	9,14
	37		El Salvador	Central America	9,30
	38		France	Western Europe	9,50
	39		Spain	Southern Europe	9,75	==
	40		Hungary	Eastern Europe	10,00
	41		Ghana	Western Africa	11,00
	42		South Africa	Southern Africa	12,00
	-		Botswana	Southern Africa	12,00
	44		South Korea	Eastern Asia	12,67
	45		Comoros	Eastern Africa	13,00
	-		Taiwan	Eastern Asia	13,00
	47		United States of America	North America	14,00
	-		Argentina	South America	14,00
	-		Romania	Eastern Europe	14,00
	50		Latvia	Northern Europe	15,00
	-		Trinidad and Tobago	Caribbean	15,00
	52		Haiti	Caribbean	15,67
	53		Moldova	Eastern Europe	16,00
	54		Hong-Kong	Eastern Asia	17,00
	-		Mauritius	Eastern Africa	17,00
	-		Samoa	Australia/Oceania	17,00
	57		United States of America (extra-territorial)	North America	19,00
	58		Malta	Southern Europe	19,50
	-		Bosnia and Herzegovina	Southern Europe	19,50
	-		Guyana	South America	19,50
	61		Italy	Southern Europe	19,67
	62		Central African Republic	Central Africa	20,00
	63		Lesotho	Southern Africa	21,00
-		Sierra Leone	Western Africa	21,00
-		Tonga	Polynesia/Oceania	21,00
66		Mozambique	Eastern Africa	21,50
67		Mauritania	Western Africa	22,20
68		Croatia	Southern Europe	23,33
-		Burkina Faso	Western Africa	23,33
70		Bhutan	South-Central Asia	24,00
-		Greece	Southern Europe	24,00	==
72		Nicaragua	Central America	24,33
73		Maldives	South-Central Asia	25,00
-		Seychelles	Eastern Africa	25,00
75		Guinea-Bissau	Western Africa	26,00
-		Senegal	Western Africa	26,00
77		Armenia	Western Asia	27,00
78		Kuwait	Middle East	28,00
79		Togo	Western Africa	28,50
80		Serbia	Southern Europe	29,00
-		Bulgaria	Eastern Europe	29,00
-		Chile	South America	29,00
-		Paraguay	South America	29,00
84		Kenya	Eastern Africa	29,50
-		Madagascar	Eastern Africa	29,50
86		Guinea	Western Africa	30,00
-		Kosovo	Southern Europe	30,00
-		Timor-Leste	Australia/Oceania	30,00
-		Zambia	Eastern Africa	30,00
90		Congo, ROC	Central Africa	30,38
91		Benin	Western Africa	31,00
92		Israel (Israeli territory)	Middle East	31,25
93		Lebanon	Middle East	31,50
94		Macedonia	Southern Europe	31,67
95		Dominican Republic	Caribbean	33,25
96		Albania	Southern Europe	34,44
97		Cameroon	Central Africa	35,00
-		Guatemala	Central America	35,00
99		Brazil	South America	35,33
100		Mongolia	Eastern Asia	35,75
101		Gabon	Central Africa	36,50
102		Cyprus (North)	Middle East	37,00
103		Chad	Central Africa	37,67
104		Ecuador	South America	38,00
-		Georgia	Western Asia	38,00
106		Nepal	South-Central Asia	38,75
107		Montenegro	Southern Europe	39,00
108		Bolivia	South America	40,00
-		Kyrgyzstan	South-Central Asia	40,00
110		Liberia	Western Africa	40,50
111		South Sudan	Central Africa	41,25	nc
112		United Arab Emirates	Middle East	45,00
113		Panama	Central America	45,67
114		Qatar	Middle East	46,00
115		Peru	South America	51,25
116		Ukraine	Eastern Europe	54,00
117		Cambodia	South-East Asia	55,00
-		Fiji	Australia/Oceania	55,00
-		Oman	Middle East	55,00
-		Venezuela	South America	55,00
-		Zimbabwe	Eastern Africa	55,00
122		Algeria	Northern Africa	56,00
-		Tajikistan	South-Central Asia	56,00
-		Malaysia	South-East Asia	56,00
125		Brunei	South-East Asia	56,20
126		Nigeria	Western Africa	56,40
127		Ethiopia	Eastern Africa	56,60
128		Jordan	Middle East	56,80
129		Bangladesh	South-Central Asia	57,00
130		Burundi	Eastern Africa	57,75
131		India	South-Central Asia	58,00
132		Angola	Central Africa	58,43
133		Israel (extra-territorial)	Middle East	59,00
134		Tunisia	Northern Africa	60,25
135		Singapore	South-East Asia	61,00
-		Honduras	Central America	61,00
137		Thailand	South-East Asia	61,50
138		Morocco	Northern Africa	63,29
139		Uganda	Eastern Africa	64,00
140		Philippines	South-East Asia	64,50
141		Gambia	Western Africa	65,50
142		Russia	Northern Asia/Europe	66,00
143		Colombia	South America	66,50
144		Swaziland	Southern Africa	67,00
145		Congo, DROC	Central Africa	67,67
146		Indonesia	South-East Asia	68,00
-		Malawi	Eastern Africa	68,00
148		Turkey	Southwestern Asia/Southern Europe	70,00
149		Mexico	North America	72,67
150		Afghanistan	South-Central Asia	74,00
151		Pakistan	South-Central Asia	75,00	==
152		Iraq	Middle East	75,36
153		Palestinian territories	Middle East	76,00
154		Kazakhstan	South-Central Asia	77,50
-		Libya	Northern Africa	77,50
156		Rwanda	Eastern Africa	81,00
157		Uzbekistan	South-Central Asia	83,00
158		Saudi Arabia	Middle East	83,25
159		Côte d'Ivoire	Western Africa	83,50
-		Djibouti	Eastern Africa	83,50
161		Equatorial Guinea	Central Africa	86,00
162		Azerbaijan	Western Asia	87,25
163		Sri Lanka	South-Central Asia	87,50
164		Somalia	Eastern Africa	88,33
165		Lao PDR	South-East Asia	89,00
166		Egypt	Northern Africa/Middle East	97,50
167		Cuba	Caribbean	98,83
168		Belarus	Eastern Europe	99,00
169		Myanmar (Burma)	South-East Asia	100,00
170		Sudan	Northern Africa	100,75
171		Yemen	Middle East	101,00
172		Vietnam	South-East Asia	114,00
173		Bahrain	Middle East	125,00
174		China	Eastern Asia	136,00
175		Iran	Middle East	136,60	==
176		Syria	Middle East	138,00
177		Turkmenistan	South-Central Asia	140,67
178		North Korea	Eastern Asia	141,00
179		Eritrea	Eastern Africa	142,00
* Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Read the full report at Reporters Without Borders


More about Press Freedom: Related Categories: Press Freedom Index 2016 Compare with RWB's 2016 Press Freedom Index. Press Freedom Index 2005 Compare with RWB's 2005 Press Freedom Index. Countries and Corruption 159 nations surveyed in 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index. Human Development Index (HDI) Countries by standards of the UN Human Development Index. Sovereign Debt and Credit Rating of Countries 2011-2012, list of countries with a variety of indicators of their financial stability or instability. First, Second and Third World A list of states of the first, second and the third world, with an explanation of the terms. Nations in Transit Comparative study of post-communist nations in transit to democracy.	External Links: Reporters Without Borders Official website of the non-profit organization. Freedom House - Freedom of the Press 2016 Freedom House annual report on freedom of the press. OAS - Organization of American States OAS on Information & Democracy.

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011/12

Access to information is a fundamental human right.

Syria, Bahrain and Yemen get worst ever rankings

Protest movements

Several European countries fall far behind rest of continent

Endemic violence

Noteworthy changes