Op/ed: Press rights here & abroad

By Allison Kozeracki

The right to write, at home and abroad

In recent months, WikiLeaks has garnered worldwide attention for making classified government documents available to the public. While WikiLeaks has received praise along with criticism, the controversy brought to question the people’s right to information and the role the media plays in delivering it to them.

Naturally, freedoms of speech and of the press vary by country. For this reason, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) annually compiles and publishes a worldwide Press Freedom Index. RWB, an international organization that advocates freedom of the press, assesses attacks on journalists and other forms of pressure against the free press. Using the information, RWB is able to rank countries from the least press freedom (highest scores) to the most press freedom (lowest scores).

Out of 178 countries, the one ranked at the very bottom of the 2010 index is Eritrea. With a score of 150,000, Eritrea is the only African country without any privately owned news media. In 2001, the government closed the private press for “endangering national security” and arrested several journalists for publishing unfavorable views of National Assembly members.

With strict censorship and persecution of journalists, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran, Burma and Syria, are not far behind on the list. Hundreds of murders of Russian journalists remain unsolved.

Although the People’s Republic of China has loosened its restrictions on the media since the rule of Chairman Mao, it still keeps journalists on a tight leash. Chinese journalists are to complete six-month training courses to learn to “eradicate false news, improve the feeling of social responsibility and reinforce journalistic ethics.” The imprisonment of human rights activist Liu Xiabo has also tarnished China’s image. China was ranked 171st on the Press Freedom Index.                                                                At the other end of the spectrum, Northern European countries consistently rank at the top of the index. This year, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are tied for first. These countries have all made efforts to respect journalists and protect them from judicial abuse.         

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits Congress from passing any law abridging the freedom of the press. While it cannot guarantee the same rights to journalists in other countries, it’s up to all American student journalists to make sure their rights are being fully protected.

To see the complete Press Freedom Index, visit www.rsf.org.