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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
In 2006
• 81 journalists and 32 media assistants were killed
• At least 871 arrested
• 1,472 physically attacked or threatened
• 56 kidnapped
• 912 media outlets censored
• In Iraq, more than 60 media workers were killed and a
score of others kidnapped, making it the deadliest year
since fighting began in March 2003.
Help for refugee journalists:
RSF helps journalists forced to flee their country with
problems applying for political asylum.
• 132 requests for asylum made in 2006
• 52 cases from 42 countries were supported by RSF and
sought refuge in Belgium, France, Germany,
Luxembourg, Senegal, Switzerland, Turkey and the
United Kingdom – 31 of them obtained asylum.
• More than 1,000 press releases and protest letters were
issued in 2006, with the aim of:
exerting pressure on governments that undermine press
freedom;
making the media and the public aware of the situation
and encouraging them to speak up for persecuted
journalists and media outlets.
Help for imprisoned journalists and media in difficulty
• RSF gave financial assistance to the families of about
100 imprisoned journalists in 2006 to pay for legal fees
or medical expenses, or to help out a journalist or media
outlet in difficulty.
• Launch of a major campaign on RSF’s website to oppose
online censorship and publicise the plight of the 60
cyber-dissidents in prison around the world.
Press freedom ranking,
top ten out of 169 countries
in the world:
Rank Country Mark
1 Iceland 0.75
- Norway 0.75
3 Estonia 1.00
- Slovakia 1.00
5 Belgium 1.50
- Finland 1.50
- Sweden 1.50
8 Denmark 2.00
- Ireland 2.00
- Portugal 2.00
Some other countries:
Rank Country Mark
20 Germany 5.75
24 UK 8.25
31 France 9.75
33 Spain 10.25
35 Italy 11.25
48 USA 14.50
144 Russia 56.90
157 Iraq 67.83
163 China 89.00
RSF revises the index every
December
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
Nicolas Coulomb, web
programmer, 27, La Farlède
(83)
“I didn’t know that more
journalists have been killed in
Iraq by now than in the whole
of the Vietnam war. We hear
a lot about casualties in Iraq
but little about the people
who bring back such news. Freedom of press is important
so that we know what is happening around us.
The disadvantage comes with the tabloid press and
paparazzis. People’s private life must remain private.”
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
The French-founded organisation Reporters sans frontières fights for press freedom worldwide. ‘French News’ looks at its struggle
In mid-November, on the
eve of a visit by
Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez, the French
president received a letter
urging him to help secure the
release of the half-French
Colombian politician Ingrid
Bétancourt, and to avoid
getting too close to Chavez.
The latter-day Bolivar has
clinched a hold on his
country’s media (he owns
seven TV stations, 20 radio
stations, one telephone
operator, the country’s main
newspaper and 60 local
ones). “Rarely has an elected
head of state posed so many
obstacles to freedom of
expression,” wrote the letter’s
author, Robert Ménard,
gauchiste, soixante-huitard (a
May 1968 protester) and
founder of Reporter sans
frontières (Reporters without
borders).
The letter is indicative of
the NGO’s front-line
involvement in world affairs
today, offering legal help and
publicising the cases of
journalists in danger,
defending the ‘freedom of
expression’ clause embedded
in the UN Declaration of
Human Rights: “Freedom of
expression is a necessary
condition to foster human
rights,” confirms Ivan Guibert
of the French branch of
Amnesty International.
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
Europe’s giant neighbour Russia
goes to the polls with President
Vladimir Putin standing for
election as a member of the Duma.
After years of debate by Russia
watchers about whether or not the
president would amend the constitution
so he could stand for a third term, he
fooled everyone by leading the United
Russia party in the parliamentary
elections.
No one yet knows what his real plans
are, although he has hinted that he might
become prime minister. One thing is
clear, he has avoided the usual lame duck
period at the end of his mandate.
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
Nicolas Sarkozy swept into the
European Parliament in
Strasbourg on November 13,
vigorously defended his policies and
swept out. He was the first French
President ever to deign to address MEPs
and the galleries were packed.
It was never going to be like Tony
Blair’s love-in in 2005 but then Nicolas
Sarkozy appears to mean what he says
and say what he means about Europe.
The applause was polite and he was
listened to with respect. His tone was
firm and he smoothly left his prepared
speech to answer heckling from the floor
from Jean-Marie Le Pen and friends
demanding a referendum on the new
European ‘mini-treaty’.
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