Press Freedom dishonour roll for 2007

To mark World Press Freedom Day today, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has cited 10 nations where conditions for journalists have deteriorated significantly over the past five years.

World Press Freedom Day, which is observed on May 3 each year, serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or prison to report the news accurately.

Robert Mahoney, CPJ deputy director, regards the report on the so-called “top 10 backsliders” as “an alarm call for the world press to take a look at countries where press freedom is in regression.”

The organization seeks to focus attention on the records of their governments with the goal of stopping or perhaps reversing the downward trends.

The CPJ list includes countries like Morocco that once were considered press freedom leaders, and others like Cuba that have had poor records for years and are becoming more restrictive.

CPJ’s 2007 dishonor roll includes Ethiopia, Gambia, Russia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cuba, Pakistan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Thailand.

In determining press conditions, CPJ analyzed worldwide data from 2002 though 2007, looking at conditions in seven categories: government censorship, judicial harassment, criminal libel prosecutions, journalist deaths, physical attacks on the press, journalist imprisonments and threats against the press. Excluded were major areas of conflict such as Iraq and Somalia, which lack conventional governance and news-gathering operations.

Cuba and Ethiopia have become two of the world’s leading jailers of journalists in the past five years according to the CPJ. Cuba has increased press restrictions through widespread imprisonments, expulsions and harassment.

In Ethiopia, the number of journalists imprisoned has risen from two to 18 and dozens have been forced into exile. In 2006 alone, Ethiopian authorities banned eight newspapers, expelled two foreign journalists and blocked critical Web sites. Only a handful of private newspapers continue to publish and all are under intense self-censorship.