France
Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom IndePosted Oct 20 2007
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Paris-based international organization that advocates press freedom, released its 2007 index measuring press freedom in countries around the world on Oct. 16. Among the 169 countries on the list, Eritrea ranks last while North Korea, China, and Burma still rank near the bottom of the index; North Korea ranks 168, China 163, Burma 164.
“We are particularly disturbed by the situation in Burma (164th),” Reporters Without Borders said. “The military junta’s crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country. Journalists continue to work under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads. We also regret that China (163rd) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope,” Reporters Without Borders said. There were no reports regarding the press freedom index on China’s official news agency, Xinhua News Agency, and North Korea’s official news agency, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Of the 20 countries that are at the bottom of the index, seven are from Asia (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea), five from Africa (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea), four from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestine Territories and Iran), three from the former Soviet bloc (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan), and one from South America (Cuba). The RSF press freedom index has been running for consecutive six years since 2001.