27 October 2009
Maputo — Mozambique has improved its position in the press freedom rankings published annually by the Paris-based press freedom body, Reporteres sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders, RSF).
In the latest RSF Press Freedom Index, Mozambique is ranked 82nd out of 175 countries. This is an improvement on 2008, when Mozambique was 90th out of 173 countries.
The ranking gives each country a score based on violations of press freedom, ranging from murders and imprisonment of journalists, to censorship and self-censorship. The score also takes into account such matters as the independence of the public sector media, financial pressure on the media, and the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for press freedom violations.
It does not look solely at abuses committed by the state, but also considers attacks on journalists by militias and clandestine organisations and the activities of pressure groups.
A questionnaire on all these issues was sent to RSF's partner organisations (15 freedom of expression bodies on all five continents), to its 130 correspondents, and to a range of other journalists, jurists and human rights activists. Depending on their answers the scores for each country were drawn up.
The highest possible score is zero, showing a country where there are virtually no violations of press freedom. Five countries in northern Europe - Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden - reach this ideal score, and are joint top of the ranking.
There seems no limit to how bad a score can get. The worst offender this year, as last year, is the paranoid dictatorship of Isaias Aferwerki in Eritrea, where there are at least 30 journalists and two other media workers behind bars. RSF describes Eritrea as "the world's biggest prison for journalists".
Eritrea has a score of 115.5. Not far behind it are North Korea (112.5), Turkmenistan (107) and Iran (104.14).
Mozambique has a score of 19. The highest ranked African country is Ghana, with a score of six, followed by Mali with eight, and South Africa with 8.5. RSF regards these countries as having a freer press than several European states, including France, Spain and Italy.
The RSF rankings and score for all members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are given below:
33. South Africa 8.5 35. Namibia 9.0 51. Mauritius 14.0 62. Botswana 15.5 62. Malawi 15.5 62. Tanzania 15.5 72. Seychelles 16.0 82. Mozambique 19.0 97. Zambia 26.75 99. Lesotho 27.5 119. Angola 36.5 134. Madagascar 45.83 136. Zimbabwe 46.5 144. Swaziland 52.5 146. D.R. Congo 53.5
Madagascar collapsed 40 places in the RSF ranking following the coup d'etat that overthrew the democratically elected president, Marc Ravalomanana, and brought the mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, to power.
"Censorship, violent attacks on media premises, disinformation and a young journalist's death while covering a demonstration were the reasons for the island's sharp fall in the index", the RSF report says.
RSF sees some hope for improvement in Zimbabwe. "The press seems to be in the process of freeing itself from the regime's vice-like grip", the report remarks. "The situation was marred by former journalist Jestina Mukoko's abduction and then imprisonment for many weeks. But hopes have been buoyed by the new government of national unity's announcement in the summer that the BBC and CNN would be allowed to return and that the independent Daily News would be able to resume publishing".
In the introduction to this year's index, RSF secretary general Jean Francois Juillard expresses particular concern at the erosion of press freedom in parts of the European Union.
"It is disturbing to see European democracies such as France, Italy and Slovakia fall steadily in the rankings year after year," Julliard said. "Europe should be setting an example as regards civil liberties. How can you condemn human rights violations abroad if you do not behave irreproachably at home?"
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