Global press freedom eroded in 2009 - U.S. survey

Global press freedom eroded in 2009 - U.S. survey

Global press freedom deteriorated last year as political turmoil or drug violence engulfed emerging democracies like Thailand and Mexico and authoritarian China and Russia tightened controls, a U.S. annual survey said last week. Freedom House, which has been conducting such polls since 1980, said 2009 marked the eighth-straight year of deterioration of media freedom, with setbacks in nearly every region creating a situation in which only one of six people in the world live in countries with a free press. "While there were some positive developments, particularly in South Asia, significant declines were recorded in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East," said Freedom House, a watchdog group funded by private and Western government donations. Behind the declines, the worst since 1996, was strife in a number of countries that threatened independent reporting, including drug wars in Mexico; political coups in Honduras, Guinea and Niger; and political strife in Thailand, it said. With China, Russia and Venezuela boosting already strong controls on media, Freedom House said "the year was notable for intensified efforts by authoritarian regimes to place restrictions on all conduits for news and information." Freedom House also warned of "globalization of censorship" because some methods of control have crossed borders. In a practice it called "libel tourism," foreign business and political figures used Britain's expansive libel laws to quash critical research or commentary by journalists and scholars, the report said. (Reuters)
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EJC Press releases
Press Freedom 2.0 moves forward

The Dutch Ministry of Development Co-operation has encouraged Press Freedom 2.0, a collaboration of five organisations including the EJC, to persist with its plan to strengthen press freedom worldwide.

The Press Freedom 2.0 project will address challenges to media and journalism in a development context. The project will focus on 13 developing countries over five years as part of the wider goals of the Dutch foreign ministry in reducing global poverty.

An initial version of the plan has qualified for government support as part of Mede Financierings Stelsel 2 (MFS2).

The Press Freedom 2.0 team has received a green light to elaborate its plan further. The Ministry will respond to a second submission from Press Freedom 2.0 in October. It will announce the exact amount of funding to be granted at that time.

This collaboration is an effort of five Dutch development organisations: Free Voice, European Journalism Centre (EJC), European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Mensen met een Missie (MM) and World Press Photo.

The team last year submitted an innovative plan for strengthening press freedom with a budget of 34 million euro over five years.

Posted on April 12, 2010 by EJC