World Press Freedom Declines in 2008

This online news article describes changes in press freedom from the 2009 Freedom House report on its study of the previous year. World press freedom declines are enumerated by region and country. Trends in impunity, harassment, and limitations of legal protections of journalists are summarised.

According to the author, the Freedom House study assesses 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. It also considers 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.

As stated here, "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." The regional findings from the Freedom House study include the following:

• Asia-Pacific - There is concern for press freedom due to violence against journalists in Cambodia. The influence of mainland China in Hong Kong caused it to be moved from the "free" to the "partly free" category. China is reported to continue to limit press freedom by using tools to control internet content and blocking access to information, having journalists fired, harassed, jailed, and murdered, and suspending publications for dissent, despite promises surrounding the occasion of hosting the Olympics.
• Central and Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union (CEE/FSU) - There has been a downturn in press freedom in countries like Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Croatia, due to harassment, threats, and beatings against journalists by groups that their governments cannot control. Fifty-six percent of people in the region live in not-free countries. Bulgaria has high levels of corruption and impunity for crimes against journalists. Russia is described as being unwilling to provide journalists with judicial protection against attacks. Independent media there are reportedly targeted by authorities, and government control over most media is also noted in the study. Former Soviet Union territories Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan are categorised among the ten worst press freedom violators.
• Central and South America - Venezuelan and Cuban leadership continue to control media. Intimidation and self-censorship is reportedly increasing in Guatemala. Mexico has increased self-censorship by media, particularly in news reports about corruption, criminal activity, and the continuing drug war.
• Middle East and North Africa - This region is reported to show no countries with complete freedom of press in 2008. The study states 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.

The article concludes that countries with established democracies and apparent freedom of press are not immune to violations, citing negative changes in Israel, Italy, and Hong Kong. The continuing development of online media sources, providing people with an unlimited amount of independent news and pro-democracy views, is opening channels only where strict controls on access are not imposed. According to the author, 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.