U.S. Ranks 44th in Worldwide
Press Freedom Index
Nation's openness sinking
after September 11
by Jesper Westi-Henriksen
10/31/05 - The annual worldwide press freedom index from Reporters
Without Borders shows the United States, which is supposedly
spreading freedom and liberty throughout the world, is in a fast
decline regarding the freedom of its own press.
The report
ranked the United States in 44th place, an atomic drop from a
favorable position of 22nd held last year, and from a handsome 17th
place in 2002.
The organization mentioned that several
journalists were expelled from the country since the terrorist
attacks of 2001.
South Korea, positioned at 34th place, is
improving its image, partly because of open-source media OhmyNews.
Any citizen in South Korea can be a reporter, thanks to its policy
of posting submissions from people with all
backgrounds.
OhmyNews was key in determining the outcome of
the 2002 South Korean presidential election, as the nation's youth
supported candidate Roh Moo Hyun. After being elected, Roh granted
his first interview to OhmyNews.
Denmark also has an
open-source news Web site, Flix.dk, but is regarded as years behind
the South Korean site in terms of influence on public
perceptions.
Open source journalism and Internet blogs are
hooking more and more readers for every day. At the same time the
mainstream media, or established media, has been on a steady decline
by losing readership and subscriptions during the last
years.
Repeated evidence of the media printing government
propaganda and misleading information leading up to the U.S.-led
Iraq invasion have surely made the decline of mainstream readers
accelerate.
European nations Denmark, Finland, Ireland,
Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland tied for first.
North Korea was ranked last out of 167 countries surveyed.
A
full list can be found at the RSF Web site.
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