Reporters Without Borders Publishes Yearly Report of Journalistic Freedom: USA Ranks Low Again
Late last night I was festering. I had just finished a (somewhat painful) viewing of several different American “News” channels in an effort to keep abreast of the political race currently underway in my neighbor to the south. I constantly switched between my beloved CBC National and the talking heads of CNN, MSNBC, ABC and CBC Nightly News and FOX News (Granted, I add this last entry with some trepidation, as it obviously is not a reputable news outlet, being comparable to the Weekly World News, the information dispenser of choice of May Mackenzie. However, in an effort to be inclusive, I must include all supposed “journalistic” media institutions.)
I fully intended to write a scathing review of the state of American journalistic standards this morning, but came across something dramatically more important. Thus, while the review of the American media has been postponed (perhaps until the next time I watch CNN), I feel it is important to examine the recent report provided by an agency sponsoring and encouraging journalistic excellence, Reporters Without Borders.
Reporters Without Borders began as an effort to provide an alternative news outlet, responsibly examining the events, legislation and politics of the world. Although internal philosophical differences quickly negated the original intent of the organization, it quickly reshaped itself into a journalistic watchdog. Now, for over 20 years, RWB has been promoting journalistic freedom, exposing repression, and reporting on the current state of journalistic affairs.
Every year, RWB produces a report on national rankings regarding journalistic freedom among the international community. Based upon a questionnaire examining direct threats, physical violence and imprisonment, RWB annually tracks the status of journalists in each nation. You can access the questionnaire here, and the methods used for compiling here.
While RWB does not take into consideration the phenomenon of sensational journalism (yellow journalism) of corporately owned media conglomerates, its findings nonetheless present a stark and unflattering view of the American media. The report is not solely a critique of national institutions, but also presents unique and verifiable findings regarding the presence of government control, conflict and religion as major factors affecting the journalistic freedom of particular regions, and the correlation of democracy and individual freedoms as well. From the censorship of communist China to the hostility of the Palestinian regions, the RWB report is eye opening and enlightening. There is a close correlation between the findings in the RWB report, and the Human Development Index, which ranks the standard of living. Imagine that, there is a connection between the freedom of information and the high standard of social wellbeing. Interesting.
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Wow! That map is very interesting. It looks like the Scandinavian countries and Portugal are some of the best places to be a journalist. It sure makes you wonder if you can believe ANYTHING that comes out of China and Iran! You just know there are corruption conspiracies and criminal cover-ups galore in those areas, and they’d likely lynch anyone who tried to tell the tales. (Whoa! That was WAY too much alliteration in one sentence!)
I was honestly a little surprised by how well the US scored. Although I knew we’d be ahead of them!
I think maybe there needs to be a few more levels of colour in there, though. I think even the US is probably a little better than South Africa when it comes to the safety of reporters. Good study, though!
The colours were just a rough estimate based on the result from the RWB. For a better understanding of how well countries faired, check the links to the reports. Amazing.
I find the language used to describe the difference between nations rising on the scale compared to nations that are on the brink of falling down the scale very interesting. The report can have two countries at the exact same position, but their is optimism on one side with fear on the other side. Thinking of the USA is interesting in that there is great fear that their censorship is only going to get worse as it will move from verbal and corporate bullying to actual physical controls.
My other thought involves trying to figure out how to combat the fear mongering that is used in more democratic countries in order to tighten the grip on information “imperative” to national security. I am always baffled by Harper’s ability to essentially cut the media off from what his government is doing. It is this type of authoritarian control in democratic countries that makes me wonder about what type of checks are in place to maintain the freedom of our presses.