Press Freedom Remains Under Serious Threat World-Wide, WAN Says

By: E&P Staff It's been another bad six months for press freedom around the globe, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) concludes in a grim report released Saturday.

"Press freedom is under serious threat from many sources -- gangs and corrupt officials in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, conflicts in Africa, hostile governments in Asia, and from death threats and prosecutions in central Asia and Europe," WAN said in its semi-annual review of press freedom.

Reporting on the eve of its World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Goteborg, Sweden, WAN noted that since November, at least 28 journalists around the world have been killed because of their work -- including nine in Iraq, the most dangerous place on Earth for a journalist.

The state of press freedom in the Middle East and North Africa -- never strong even as it improved in recent years -- is now weakening again, WAN concludes.

"The past six months have been marked by a number of setbacks in the area of press freedom, mainly due to autocratic regimes that prevent independent voices from making themselves heard," WAN said in its regional assessment. "Bloggers throughout the region continue to be a source of news and information ignored or censored by the government controlled media."

In Latin America, meanwhile, four journalists were killed in the past six months, and many others were attacked, threatened, and harassed by a wide array of anti-press forces including drug gangs, right-wing death squads, corrupt police and governments, and leaders who treat the news media as implacable enemies.

"The region is distinguished by a general lack of respect for journalists," WAN said.

Eleven journalists were murdered in Asia in the past half-year, including four in Pakistan alone.

"Throughout this vast region, independent media continue to face an array of obstacles mainly in the form of hostile governments and internal conflicts," WAN said. "In the northern parts of Asia, journalists continue their struggle for the right to freedom of expression. Dictatorships such as Burma, North Korea and Laos allow no independent media to operate within their borders."

WAN takes China to task for intensifying a crackdown on the press, especially after the March riots in Tibet.

"Not only has China failed to live up to the press freedom commitments made as part of Beijing's preparation to be the host city of the 2008 Games but the authorities continue to arrest and sentence journalists to lengthy prison sentences," WAN said.

Press freedom cannot be assumed in Europe and Central Asia, WAN says, but "continues to be challenged ... both in subtle and blatant manners."

Death threats and official prosecution "remain disturbingly common for reporting" on a variety of issues, including organized crime, armed conflicts, or even for treating officials or national or religious symbols with "disrespect," the association said.

The report, with region-by-region details, is available on the WAN web site at http://www.wan-press.org/article17265.html