Freedom of the press: Switzerland in 15th place

This year's Reporters Without Borders ranking includes 180 countries, one more than last year: Belize is a new addition to the list, coming in 29th place. Some other countries have massively changed their position in the ranking. Countries as diverse as the USA, the Central African Republic and Guatemala have fallen sharply, but there have been significant improvements in Ecuador, Bolivia and South Africa. Finland, the Netherlands and Norway are once again at the top of the ranking, while Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea continue to have the most difficult situation in terms of freedom of information, occupying the last three positions.

Switzerland in 15th place

Switzerland ranks 15th, which is a minimal change compared to the previous year (14th place). In an international comparison, Switzerland is therefore well placed in terms of freedom of the press and freedom of information, while in a European comparison it occupies a middle position. The "Rocchi case" caused a stir last year: the Neuchâtel judiciary had the home of Le Matin journalist Ludovic Rocchi searched and confiscated IT equipment and documents (Werbewoche.ch reported). ROG Switzerland protested against this action (Werbewoche.ch reported). The Neuchâtel High Court described the house search as illegal and ordered the return of the confiscated material (Werbewoche.ch reported).

The Swiss experts also criticize the continuing concentration of media and the merging of editorial offices of different types of media ("convergence"), both of which, according to ROG, lead to a decline in the diversity of voices. Working conditions in journalism - job cuts and corresponding stress, no collective labor agreement in German-speaking Switzerland - as well as the influence of lobbyists and legal representatives on editorial offices are further points where the Swiss experts see potential for improvement.

It is also not yet ideal that the principle of public access does not apply everywhere: not all Swiss cantons have a law that stipulates the principle of public access by the administration, and at federal level the Federal Act on the Principle of Public Access by the Administration (FPA) is implemented somewhat inadequately in some cases. The fact that the Federal Office of Justice has been commissioned by the General Secretaries' Conference (GSK) to evaluate the Federal Act on the Principle of Publicity in the Administration and examine its implementation and impact has also raised concerns. The Federal Act on the Federal Administration of Foreign Nationals provides for the Federal Council to exempt other units of the Federal Administration from the scope of the Act in addition to the National Bank and the Financial Market Authority, which are already exempt. "We hope that the evaluation will be in favor of the principle of public access and will not result in any setbacks," says Thérèse Obrecht Hodler, President of ROG Switzerland.

Ranking worldwide

This year's ROG ranking reveals two phenomena: On the one hand, some countries, including democracies, have interpreted the term "national security" in an overly broad and thus abusive way - with the corresponding consequences for the media. On the other hand, the ranking also reflects the negative impact of armed conflicts with all their various interest groups on freedom of information and its actors. One example of this is Syria (177th place, -1): Journalists there are targeted by both government forces and extremist rebel militias; from March 2011 to December 2013, around 130 media professionals and citizen journalists were killed in connection with the provision of news and information.

In Mali (122nd place, -22), the ongoing conflict in the north is preventing the media landscape from recovering, while in the Central African Republic (109th place), freedom of information and the work of media professionals have been massively impaired as a result of the war, resulting in a loss of 43 places in the rankings. In Egypt (159th place, -1), the overthrow of President Morsi by the army meant that the media, which had been muzzled by the Muslim Brotherhood, were able to operate more freely again. At the same time, however, a witch hunt was launched against journalists who were close to the Brotherhood or accused of being so.

Far away from these conflict states, in countries where the rule of law prevails, security arguments are misused as reasons for restricting freedom of information. The "protection of national security" leads to encroachments on hard-won democratic rights. In the USA (46th place, -13), for example, the hunt for leaks and whistleblowers also serves as a warning to those who assume that they are acting in the public interest when they disclose information about the behavior of their state. The UK (33rd place, -3) acts in a similar way to the US and has demonstrated this above all with the massive pressure against the Guardian.

There are many examples of governments using the "fight against terrorism" as an excuse to crack down on journalists. In Turkey (154th place, +1), for example, dozens of journalists were imprisoned under this pretext, especially those who had reported on the "Kurdish question". Israel (96th place, +17) made up a few places in the ranking that it had lost in the previous index due to the impact of Operation Pillar of Defense on freedom of information. However, the imperative of territorial integrity still often stifles free information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Sri Lanka (165th place, - 2), the army influences reporting by suppressing information that deviates too far from the official idea of "pacifying" the former strongholds of the separatist Tamils.

Some notable developments

The Central African Republic (109th place), the scene of a violent conflict, recorded the sharpest fall: Violence, attacks and threats against media professionals caused it to drop 43 places. Guatemala's fall (125th place, -29) is also massive. It is due to a sharp deterioration in the security situation for media professionals; there were four murders and twice as many attacks as in the previous year. In Kenya (90th place, -18), the government's highly criticized authoritarian response to media coverage of the Westgate Mall attack was reinforced by dangerous parliamentary initiatives. Chad (139th) dropped 17 places due to cases of abusive arrests and prosecutions in 2013. The effects of the economic crisis and the resulting populist movements and riots, including against the media, caused Greece (99th place) to drop 14 places.

In Panama (87th place, +25), the Dominican Republic (68th place, +13), Bolivia (94th place, +16) and Ecuador (95th place, +25), the number of cases of violence, censorship and abusive legal proceedings has decreased. In Ecuador, however, the degree of polarization in the media is still very high, which has a negative impact on public debate. Finally, South Africa (42nd place, +11) reports a welcome development: Here, the president refused to sign a law in 2013 that would have threatened the freedom of the media.