Press freedom under threat, especially in Asia and Africa

 Freedom of the press remains a highly endangered commodity worldwide. The situation is particularly bad in Asia and Africa with countries such as Burma, North Korea and Eritrea, reported the organization Reporters Without Borders (ROG) on Tuesday. One year before the Olympic Games in Beijing, China only ranks 163rd out of 169 countries in the global ranking. It is "questionable whether the so often promised reforms will be implemented and imprisoned journalists released". No progress has been made in Russia (144th place). However, Western countries such as the USA (48th place) are also cause for criticism, with Eritrea at the bottom of the ROG "press freedom ranking". "Private media no longer exist and the few journalists who dare to criticize the regime (...) end up in prison," it says. Several journalists have died in custody. The 20 countries with the worst conditions for the press include Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and the Palestinian territories, as well as the CIS states of Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, Cuba and Vietnam.
Led by Iceland, Norway and Estonia, the 14 freest countries are all in Europe. Switzerland is in 11th place, behind Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Finland and Sweden. Belgium and Slovakia are also ahead of it. Germany is only in 20th place, due to investigations against journalists for aiding and abetting the betrayal of secrets and moves to undermine the protection of sources, as well as attacks on journalists researching in the right-wing milieu. France is still in 31st place.