There are serious violations of press freedoms in both industrially advanced and developing nations. Sahar El-Bahr reviews the Reporters Without Borders' fourth annual World Press Freedom Index North Korea once again was at the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders' fourth annual World Press Freedom Index. It is closely followed in the 167-country list by Eritrea (166) and Turkmenistan (165), which the report suggests are "black holes" for news where the privately-owned media is not allowed and freedom of expression does not exist. The report revealed that journalists in those countries simply relayed government propaganda. Anyone out of step is harshly dealt with. A word too many, a commentary that deviates from the official line or a wrongly- spelled name can land a reporter in jail. Harassment, psychological pressure, intimidation and round-the-clock surveillance are routine. While the bottom of the list was dominated by countries in East Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, more than anticipated African and Latin American countries received higher ratings. The United States (44) fell more than 20 places, mainly because of the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves that undermined the privacy of journalistic sources. Canada (21) dropped several places due to decisions that weakened the privacy of sources and sometimes turned journalists into "court auxiliaries". France (30) slipped, largely because of searches of media offices, interrogations of journalists and the introduction of new press offenses. At the top of the report again are northern European countries Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands, where robust press freedom is firmly established. All the top 10 countries are European. The report states that countries that recently won their independence are observant of press freedoms, belying the insistence of many authoritarian leaders that it takes decades to establish democracy. Nine states that won independence over the past 15 years were among the top 60 on the list. The report also contradicts the frequent argument by some leaders of repressive governments that economic development is a vital precondition for democracy and respect for human rights. The top of the Index is heavily dominated by rich countries, but several very poor ones (with a per capita GDP of less than $1,000 in 2003) are among the top 60, such as Benin (25) and Mali (37). In the Middle East, the situation in Iraq (157) has deteriorated further during the year as the safety of journalists became more precarious. At least 24 journalists and media assistants have been killed so far this year, making it the mostly deadly conflict for journalists since World War II. A total of 72 reporters were killed after the fighting began in March 2003. The US army (US occupation forces in Iraq, 137) also violated press freedoms, as it did in 2003 and 2004. Six journalists were jailed in Abu Ghraib prison without explanation and were not allowed to receive visits from their lawyers, families or employers. Four journalists were killed by US army gunfire between September 2004 and September 2005. Few of the region's countries rank high in the report. Israel (47) does best but it slipped several places this year because of the army's mistreatment of journalists in the occupied territories. This kind of violence decreased sharply during the year and is no longer dealt with in a separate section as in previous years. The expulsion of a French journalist in July also contributed to Israel's downgrading. Journalists have also become targets of some Palestinian factions in Gaza, where four journalists were kidnapped in the past year. The report mentioned that the Palestinian Authority (132) seemed powerless to prevent the situation from worsening. The region's worst record of press freedom is Iran (164), with seven journalists in prison and four others provisionally free and in danger of being returned to jail at any moment. Journalist Akbar Ganji is still being held in solitary confinement despite a more than 60- day hunger strike, an international campaign and several official promises to free him. Cyber dissident Mojtaba Saminejad has been in jail since October 2004, serving a two-year sentence. Despite the fact that Lebanon (108) is traditionally the region's second best ranking country in the report, this year it dropped more than 50 places in two years because of a series of assassinations and assassination attempts against journalists. Three months after Samir Kassir was murdered in June, a car bombing seriously injured journalist May Chidiac. On December 12 journalist Gibran Tueni was assassinated by a large car bomb. Journalists became targets after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri in February, leading several journalists to flee the country. The report stressed that a free and independent press still does not exist in Syria (145), Saudi Arabia (154) and Libya (162) and their inhabitants have no other source of news except the official media, which is a conduit for government propaganda. Conditions in Egypt (143) deteriorated sharply, with attacks on several journalists and the authority failing to keep its promise, made in 2004, to decriminalise press offenses. According to the report the authorities in Tunisia (147) have tightened their grip on journalistic activity. Bureaucratic censorship is still used to block new independent media outlets being set up and the national journalists' union, with more than 150 members, was prevented from holding its first general assembly in September. Emergence of a free press remains a dream in the country which hosted the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) last month.
