Ten Thousand Things

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REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS: Japan Has More Press Freedom than the U.S.; China remains world's biggest prison for journalists & cyber-dissidents

North Korea was replaced by Eritrea for the last place in a study published by Reporters Without Borders, "Worldwide Press Freedom Index" that measures freedom of the press in 169 countries throughout the world. However, North Korea still remains the least free of seven other Asian countries that make up the bottom twenty of the index, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, and Burma:

“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.”

Although one of the English-language mainstream media often compares press freedom in Japan unfavorably with the U.S., Japan beats the latter, according to RWB:

"There were slightly fewer press freedom violations in the United States (48th) and blogger Josh Wolf was freed after 224 days in prison. But the detention of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June 2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to join the lead group...

"Japan (37th) has seen a letup in attacks on the press by militant nationalists, and this has allowed it to recover 14 places."

Government media repression now targets bloggers as much as traditional media journalists:

"In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible.

"'We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship. More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.

"At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison.

As a result, Reporters Without Borders is continuing its campaign against this harsh repression of bloggers and traditional media journalists in China, some imprisoned since the 1980's:

"When the International Olympic Committee assigned the 2008 summer Olympic Games to Beijing on 13 July 2001, the Chinese police were intensifying a crackdown on subversive elements, including Internet users and journalists. Six years later, nothing has changed. But despite the absence of any significant progress in free speech and human rights in China, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) members continue to turn a deaf ear to repeated appeals from international organisations that condemn the scale of the repression.

"From the outset, Reporters Without Borders has been opposed to holding the Olympic Games to Beijing...

"At least 30 journalists and 50 Internet users are currently detained in China. Some of them since the 1980s. The government blocks access to thousands for news websites. It jams the Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur-language programmes of 10 international radio stations. After focusing on websites and chat forums, the authorities are now concentrating on blogs and video-sharing sites. China’s blog services incorporate all the filters that block keywords considered “subversive” by the censors... Although the rules for foreign journalists have been relaxed, it is still impossible for the international media to employ Chinese journalists or to move about freely in Tibet and Xinjiang.

On the hopeful side, Nepal's press freedoms have improved since its return to rule of law:

"As predicted last year, Nepal (137th) has jumped more than 20 places in the ranking. The end of the war and the return to democratic rule resulted in an immediate recovery of basic freedoms and created new space for the media."

In Iran (#166, fourth from the bottom), Adnan Hassanpour remains under a death sentence, and Reporters Without Borders asks for support for his release.

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