2/12/14, "Finland No. 1, US sinks to 46th in global press freedom rankings," Yahoo News, Olivier Knox
"The United States did not live up
to the promise of the First Amendment last year, “far from it,” sinking
to 46th in global press freedom rankings, a respected international
nonprofit group said Wednesday.
The U.S. plummeted 13 slots to 46th overall “amid increased efforts to track down whistle-blowers and the sources of leaks,” Reporters Without Borders warned in an annual report.
“The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden
were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of
sensitive information that would clearly be in the public interest,” the
organization said.
The group,
known by its French initials, RSF, also cited the Department of
Justice’s seizure of Associated Press telephone records and a court’s
pressure on New York Times reporter James Risen to testify against a CIA
staffer accused of leaking classified information.
It’s “a clear strategy of the administration” to “avoid any other version than the official version on what the administration is doing,” Halgand said.
Overall, RSF said in its report, “countries that pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it.”
“Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices. Investigative journalism often suffers as a result,” the group said.
So who does a better job than the U.S. of protecting press freedoms?
Here,
in order of rank, starting with No. 1 Finland: Finland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Denmark,
Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany,
Switzerland, Ireland, Jamaica, Canada, Poland, Slovakia, Costa Rica,
Namibia, Belgium, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Uruguay, Ghana, Australia, Belize,
Portugal, Suriname, Lithuania, Britain, Slovenia, Spain, Antigua and
Barbuda, Latvia, El Salvador, France, Samoa, Botswana, South Africa,
Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea and Romania.
Italy was 49th. Israel was 96th. Afghanistan was 128th. Russia was 148th. China was 175th."
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