Out of the 195 countries and regions around the world studied, 36 percent are rated free, 31 percent are partly free, and 33 percent are not free at all. Only 17 percent of the world’s people live in countries that have freedom of press. For every one gain in freedom in 2008 there were two losses, marking the seventh straight year of a trend of global decline.
While some regions of Africa and East Asia made relative progress, these gains were surpassed by drives of intimidation aimed at independent media in the Middle East, North Africa, and particularly in the Soviet Union.
“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,” said Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House executive director, in a statement.
The study accesses the level of freedom in Web-, broadcast-, and print-based media annually. Legal, political, and economic environments in which media operate are the key categories examined.
The report is based on the extent of laws, regulations, and instruments a government uses that significantly impacts the freedom of press in a particular region or country. Political environments that allow exertion of pressure by authorities, intimidation, and violence against journalists, or the existence of censorship or self-censorship, are the major contributors to the declining trends in the freedom of the press that the study further assesses.
Regional Findings
The Asia-Pacific region continues to be of particular concern. After an increase of violence against journalists in Cambodia, the country dropped to a status of not free. The growing influence of Beijing media in Honk Kong made the country slip into the partly free category.
China still remains the world’s biggest poor actor as media in the country stays behind the control of the Chinese communist dictatorship. Despite promised press openness by the Chinese regime prior to the Olympic Games and after the Sichuan earthquake, the study shows that the authorities continued to keep a tight rein on domestic journalists and Internet access, using sophisticated tools to control content by blocking access to information about Tibet, the (persecuted) spiritual practice of Falun Gong, and information from pro-democracy media.
Journalists in China that do not remain loyal to the Chinese Communist Party line continued to be fired, harassed, jailed, and murdered. China’s commercial newspaper China Business Post—known for its relatively brave reports—was suspended by the regime in 2008 for three months, the report reveals.
“The declines in East Asia are particularly disappointing, given the increased attention on the region because of the Olympic Games. 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 in a statement Karin Deutch Karleker, Freedom House senior researcher and managing editor of the study.
The region of Central and Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union (CEE/FSU) had suffered the greatest downturn in press freedom. In countries like Russia, Bulgaria, and Croatia, harassment, threats, and beatings against journalists by groups that their governments cannot control are common practice.
In the CEE/FSU region, 28 percent of the countries are free. The score of partly free and not free countries is equal to 36 percent for each category. But a great number of people in the region—56 percent—still live in not-free countries. Countries from the Balkans are of particular interest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Bulgaria did not show any improvement in 2007 and 2008 due to a continuing trend of an increase of harassment and physical threats, the study reports.
The case of the severe beating last September of Bulgarian journalist Ognyan Stephanov has shocked the public in the small country of 7 million located north of Greece. He was attacked at night by 5–6 individuals who beat him up with hammers and metal rods. Despite its EU membership, Bulgaria is still ravaged by high levels of corruption, and impunity for crimes against journalists raises major concerns.
Russia has become known for its unwillingness to provide journalists with judicial protection against attacks. Independent media are also frequently targeted by authorities. Currently Russia is seeing a significant reduction of basic civil and political liberties, creating obstacles for the freedom of press. Government control over most media is of particular concern.
Out of the 195 countries included in the study, three of the ten worst press freedom violators are found in the CEE/FSU region: Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan; all former Soviet Union territories.
The declines overweigh the gains in Central and South America, as the number of countries slipping into the status of not free worsens compared to 2007.
The repressive governments of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Fidel Castro in Cuba continue to keep their not free status in the region as control over the media still exists. With amplifying levels of intimidation and self-censorship in Guatemala, the situation of media freedom is troublesome, too.
Given the unwillingness of the government to make legal reforms, the escalating pressure and violence against journalists, and the imposed level of control by certain local and state representatives, Mexico continues its descent from 2007 into an unfavorable condition. Increased self-censorship by media is particularly noticeable in news reports about corruption, criminal activity, and the continuing drug war that shakes up the state. Mexico’s daily El Universal reports a record-breaking toll of 5,612 deaths in 2008 resulting form Mexico’s drug war alone.
The Middle East and North African region is the only one that shows no freedom of press in 2008, as 21 percent of the countries are rated partly free and 79 percent are not free. The study reveals that journalists with liberal and independent views in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Tunisia are subject to strict controls and can face consequences for their reports.
Trends
Countries with established democracies and apparent freedom of press are not immune to violations, the study shows. Israel, Italy, and Hong Kong slipped into the partly free category in 2008 as a consequence of threats to media independence.
The development of online media sources provides people around the globe with an unlimited amount of independent news and pro-democracy views. But countries with poor performance like China and other regimes continue to impose strict control over news channels that dare to speak out.The unwillingness or inability of governments to construct protective laws, eliminate restrictive legislation, and prosecute criminal groups or individuals that attack media or journalists, creates an environment that is restraining the freedom of press.
Impunity for crimes committed against journalists stokes more violence. In unstable countries like Somalia, Iraq, Mexico, Russia, and others, physical harassment directed to the press or individual journalists poses real danger.
Freedom House has assessed the world’s freedom of press since 1980. It was founded in 1941 and has ever since been an advocate for democracy and freedoms.
