Freedom of the Press: No Longer a Free Press in Mexico and Egypt
According to a U.S. study, given the dangers and violence associated with drug trafficking, Mexico can no longer be considered a country with a free press. However, there was also a dramatic deterioration in press freedom last year in the Middle East and North Africa.
This is the conclusion reached by the U.S. organization Freedom House in its latest annual report. Egypt, for example, was downgraded to «not free.» Countries such as Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tunisia continue to rank among those nations worldwide where the state of press independence and freedom of the press is particularly poor. «In 2010, we saw how easily governments in the Middle East resorted to repressing the media,» said Karin Deutsch Karlekar of Freedom Press.
While there have been some breakthroughs in the Middle East earlier this year that give reason to hope the region is moving toward a higher global standard of press freedom, there are also worrying developments, Deutsch Karlekar said. For example, in Egypt, where the armed forces recently restricted media coverage.
Mexico’s downgrade to «not free» was described as surprising. Nevertheless, it stems from the reported attacks on journalists in the country, self-censorship, and the climate of fear fueled by drug trafficking. In addition to Mexico and Egypt, significant deteriorations were also noted in Honduras, Hungary, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and Ukraine. However, the report states that it appears the decline, which has persisted for years, is coming to an end. It is not clear, however, whether there will be an overall improvement this year.
The ten countries with the lowest rankings are Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. (SDA)
