Today is World Press Freedom Day.
37 days since Julian Assange was gagged & isolated from visitors, press & communications, after US State Department pressure. In total, 2,704 days of detention without charge in prison, house arrest, and at the embassy
2018 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index Rankings...
Rank Country
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1 Norway 2 Sweden 3 Netherlands 4 Finland 5 Switzerland 6 Jamaica 7 Belgium 8 New Zealand 9 Denmark 10 Costa Rica 11 Austria 12 Estonia 13 Iceland 14 Portugal 15 Germany 16 Ireland 17 Luxembourg 18 Canada 19 Australia 20 Uruguay 21 Suriname 22 Samoa 23 Ghana 24 Latvia 25 Cyprus 26 Namibia 27 Slovakia 28 South Africa 29 Cape Verde 30 Liechtenstein 31 Spain 32 Slovenia 33 France 34 Czech Republic 35 OECS 36 Lithuania 37 Andorra 38 Chile 39 Trinidad and Tobago 40 United Kingdom 41 Burkina Faso 42 Taiwan 43 South Korea 44 Romania 45 United States 46 Italy 47 Belize 48 Botswana 49 Comoros 50 Senegal 51 Tonga 52 Argentina 53 Papua New Guinea 54 Madagascar 55 Guyana 56 Mauritius 57 Fiji 58 Poland 59 Dominican Republic 60 Haiti 61 Georgia 62 Bosnia and Herzegovina 63 Niger 64 Malawi 65 Malta 66 El Salvador 67 Japan 68 Lesotho 69 Croatia 70 Hong Kong 71 Mongolia 72 Mauritania 73 Hungary 74 Greece 75 Albania 76 Serbia 77 Cyprus North 78 Kosovo 79 Sierra Leone 80 Armenia 81 Moldova 82 C™te d'Ivoire 83 Guinea-Bissau 84 Benin 85 Seychelles 86 Togo 87 Israel 88 Peru 89 Liberia 90 Nicaragua 91 Panama 92 Ecuador 93 Tanzania 94 Bhutan 95 East Timor 96 Kenya 97 Tunisia 98 Kyrgyzstan 99 Mozambique 100 Lebanon 101 Ukraine 102 Brazil 103 Montenegro 104 Guinea 105 Kuwait 106 Nepal 107 Paraguay 108 Gabon 109 Macedonia 110 Bolivia 111 Bulgaria 112 Central African Republic 113 Zambia 114 Congo 115 Mali 116 Guatemala 117 Uganda 118 Afghanistan 119 Nigeria 120 Maldives 121 Angola 122 Gambia 123 Chad 124 Indonesia 125 Qatar 126 Zimbabwe 127 Oman 128 United Arab Emirates 129 Cameroon 130 Colombia 131 Sri Lanka 132 Jordan 133 Philippines 134 Palestine 135 Morocco 136 Algeria 137 Myanmar 138 India 139 Pakistan 140 Thailand 141 Honduras 142 Cambodia 143 Venezuela 144 South Sudan 145 Malaysia 146 Bangladesh 147 Mexico 148 Russian Federation 149 Tajikistan 150 Ethiopia 151 Singapore 152 Swaziland 153 Brunei Darussalam 154 The Democratic Republic Of The Congo 155 Belarus 156 Rwanda 157 Turkey 158 Kazakhstan 159 Burundi 160 Iraq 161 Egypt 162 Libya 163 Azerbaijan 164 Islamic Republic of Iran 165 Uzbekistan 166 Bahrain 167 Yemen 168 Somalia 169 Saudi Arabia 170 Lao People's Democratic Republic 171 Equatorial Guinea 172 Cuba 173 Djibouti 174 Sudan 175 Vietnam 176 China 177 Syrian Arab Republic 178 Turkmenistan 179 Eritrea 180 Democratic People's Republic of Korea
https://rsf.org/en/ranking/2018
Comments
(Old Spike)
How did they come up with these numbers?
(Old Spike)
Basically a questionaire is given to experts in each country to calculate results for these categories:
Pluralism
Media independence
Environment and self-censorship
Legislative framework
Transparency
Infrastructure
Abuses
Questionaire: https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/rsf_survey_en.pdf
Methodology: https://rsf.org/en/detailed-methodology
(Old Spike)
Then i cant see Belgium scoring only 2, the media is wide open here, wikkileak and everything around it came in the news several times, and it is very down to earth with serious questions to national and international reporters, not biassed in any way.
There are even moments that i dont find Belgian reported news on youtube. like it is censored around the rest of the world
(Old Spike)
No, no, 2 is not the score, 2 is the rank position that it's changed since last year.... damn I didn't do the list well enough.
Belgium has the 7th-most free media in the world. Last year it was 9th......
Edit: I removed that position change score to just show the rank.
By the way, NZ media is open & frank on domestic topics (which don't interest me) but on foreign policy topics our position as a vassal of the US is clear. We're right behind you in position 8 :)
(Old Spike)