October 18, 2007
Commies not so hot for scribblers
The group Reporters Without Borders released its ranking of countries, based on how badly they interfere with freedom of the press, and the worst offenders are, in order:
Eritrea,
North Korea,
Turkmenistan,
Iran,
Cuba,
MyanmarBurma,and China.
I find it fascinating that three of the worst places on Earth when it comes to freedom of speech are Communist-run dictatorships, the kinds of places routinely lauded by leftists as workers' paradises, where people are free to live without being exploited and oppressed by their capitalist masters.
They're so bad that even a lefty group like Reporters Without Borders couldn't ignore the plight of their colleagues. Of course RWB can't quite let go of the dogma that the West is still intent on stifling dissent; they couldn't bear to admit that the United States has the freest press in the world, figuring out a way to keep the U.S. out of the top-tier.
Northern European nations Iceland, Norway and Estonia were deemed the countries where journalists have the most liberty.
The United States was ranked 48 on a list of 169, gaining ground slightly for the first time since Reporters Without Borders began compiling the list five years ago. In 2002 when the group released its first list, the United States was 17th, but has since steadily declined because of limits on journalists linked to the war in Iraq and anti-terrorism policies. Last year it was 53rd.
Funny, I haven't seen a reduction in the volume of anti-America, anti-Bush, anti-Iraq War articles being published by the media; what limits are they talking about? From reports on the supposed abuse of terrorist detainees to the endless series of New York Times articles revealing details of U.S. surveillance and anti-terrorism operations, American journalists seem to have complete freedom -- freedom to publish whatever they please, no matter how damaging to national security and the fight against our enemies.
Which is to be expected, given the J-School training many would-be Woodwards and Bernsteins get, indoctrinating them that they are citizens of the world, not parochial scribes of a corrupt, Bush-led Reich.
Repressive governments are increasingly targeting bloggers, the group said. At least 64 people are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet, most of them in China which ranked 163rd.
It was the first time Eritrea had reached the bottom spot on the list, compiled by the Paris-based media watchdog and its network of more than 100 correspondents, legal experts and human rights activists worldwide.
"Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom," the group said in a statement. "The privately owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticize the regime are sent off to prison camps."
Media freedom has not improved in Russia, ranked 144th, the group said, blaming failure to punish those responsible for murdering journalists and limited diversity in the media.
The group welcomed overall improvement in media rights in the world's rich democracies, including France and Japan, but noted that only two members of the G-8 - Canada and Germany - were in the list's top 20.
Canada and Germany are in the top 20? Did you know that in Germany, so-called "hate speech" can be criminally prosecuted, which is the very definition of thought control. And Canada is only moderately less interested in policing its citizens ability to say what they think.
Canada has no freedom of the press as we understand it, with judges routinely ordering newspapers to refrain from reporting on court proceedings, forcing Canadians to read American websites to find out what's happening in their own country.
And yet both of these nations are supposedly more dedicated to freedom of expression than the United States.
Hey, Reporters Without Borders, your bias is showing.
Update
On a related note, Seth Leibsohn and Andrew McCarthy say that American journalists are pressing for official recognition that they are above the law -- and officially not required to shoulder the same burdens and responsibilities as the rest of us yokels.
Posted by Mike Lief at October 18, 2007 08:40 PM
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