‘Pakistan has 17th most restricted press’
LAHORE: Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF or reporters without borders) has announced its annual worldwide press freedom index ranking Pakistan 150th in a total of 167 countries. North Korea is at the bottom of the list for having the most restricted press.
“Freedom of press is threatened most in East Asia (with North Korea at the bottom of the entire list at 167th place and China 162nd) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia 159th, Iran 158th and Iraq 148th),” the RSF report said.
In these countries, the report said, either independent media does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored daily. “Pakistan dropped about 20 places because freedom of information and the safety of journalists are not guaranteed and army pressure on the local press has increased,” it said. India is ranked 120th. It is placed in the bottom half of the index despite having free and active independent media, because killings and physical attacks on journalists, along with outdated laws, prevent a full flowering of the press, said the report. Violence against the media in India rarely comes from authorities. It mostly comes from political activists and in Kashmir, from militant groups.
The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway), which is a haven of peace for journalists. Of the top 20 countries, only three (New Zealand 9th, Trinidad and Tobago 11th and Canada 18th) are outside Europe. staff report
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| Tuesday, February 09, 2010
