The Worldwide Press Freedom index

The organization Reporters Without Borders makes an annual ranking considering the freedom of press in the countries. Andorra and Malta are not in the list. The rank is based on a questionnaire sent to partner organisations of Reporters Without Borders (14 freedom of expression groups in five continents) and its 130 correspondents around the world, as well as to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists.

According to RWB, survey asks questions about direct attacks on journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press. Check your contry below.

Rank	Country	Index						Notes
2007		2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
1	Iceland	0.75	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
1	Norway	0.75	2.00	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
3	Estonia	1.00	2.00	1.50	2.00	2.50
3	Slovakia	1.00	2.50	0.75	0.50	2.50
5	Belgium	1.50	4.00	4.00	4.00	1.17	3.50
5	Finland	1.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
5	Sweden	1.50	4.00	2.00	2.00	1.50	1.50
8	Denmark	2.00	5.00	0.50	0.50	1.00	3.00
8	Republic of Ireland	2.00	0.50	0.50	0.50	2.83	1.00
8	Portugal	2.00	3.00	4.83	4.50	5.17	1.50
11	Switzerland	3.00	2.50	0.50	0.50	2.50	4.25
12	Latvia	3.50	3.00	2.50	1.00	2.25
12	Netherlands	3.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
14	Czech Republic	4.00	0.75	1.00	3.50	2.50	11.25
15	New Zealand	4.17	5.00	2.00	0.67	2.83
16	Austria	4.25	4.50	2.50	3.25	2.75	7.50
17	Hungary	4.50	3.00	2.00	6.00	3.33	6.50
18	Canada	4.88	4.50	4.50	3.33	1.83	0.75
19	Trinidad and Tobago	5.00	5.00	2.00	2.00	1.00
20	Germany	5.75	5.50	4.00	2.00	1.33	1.50
21	Costa Rica	6.50	6.67	8.50	7.63	3.83	4.25
21	Slovenia	6.50	3.00	1.00	2.25	3.00	4.00
23	Lithuania	7.00	6.50	4.50	3.00	2.83
24	United Kingdom	8.25	6.50	5.17	6.00	4.25	6.00
25	Mauritius	8.50	8.00	7.50	10.50	7.25	9.50
25	Namibia	8.50	6.00	5.50	10.00	11.00	8.00
27	Jamaica	8.63	5.50	7.50	4.17	3.33
28	Australia	8.79	9.00	6.50	9.50	9.25	3.50
29	Ghana	9.00	8.50	15.00	13.50	8.75	23.00
30	Greece	9.25	8.00	4.00	7.00	6.00	5.00
31	France	9.75	9.00	6.25	3.50	4.17	3.25
32	Republic of China (Taiwan)	10.00	10.50	12.25	14.25	12.00	9.00
33	Spain	10.25	10.00	8.33	9.00	7.67	7.75
34	Bosnia and Herzegovina	11.17	5.00	7.00	3.67	6.83	12.50
35	Italy	11.25	9.90	8.67	9.00	9.75	11.00
36	Macedonia	11.50	11.50	8.75	11.25	9.67
37	Japan	11.75	12.50	8.00	10.00	8.00	7.50
37	Uruguay	11.75	13.75	9.75	10.00	4.00	6.00
	Grenada				12.00
39	Chile	12.13	11.63	11.75	10.00	6.83	6.50
39	South Korea	12.13	7.75	7.50	11.13	9.17	10.50
41	Croatia	12.50	13.00	12.83	11.83	16.50	8.75
42	Romania	12.75	14.00	16.17	17.83	11.50	13.25
43	South Africa	13.00	11.25	6.50	5.00	3.33	7.50
44	Israel (Israeli territory)	13.25	12.00	10.00	8.00	8.00	30.00
45	Cape Verde	14.00	11.50	6.00	8.75	8.25	13.75
45	Cyprus	14.00	7.50	5.50	22.00	20.83		pre-2005 data included Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
47	Nicaragua	14.25	15.50	15.25	11.67	6.50
48	United States	14.50	13.00	9.50	4.00	6.00	4.75
49	Togo	15.17	15.00	23.75	19.50	27.50	31.50
50	Mauritania	15.50	17.50	40.00	51.00	36.67	41.33
51	Bulgaria	16.25	9.00	10.25	8.00	6.50	9.75
52	Mali	16.50	9.00	8.00	12.83	11.00	12.50
53	Benin	17.00	5.50	5.50	5.50	5.25	6.00
54	Panama	17.88	9.50	15.00	14.50	9.75	15.50
55	Tanzania	18.00	19.82	17.50	14.50	16.50	21.25
56	Ecuador	18.50	15.25	21.75	16.50	7.67	5.50
56	Poland	18.50	14.00	12.50	6.83	6.17	7.75
58	Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	19.00	14.50	12.50	22.00	20.83		pre-2005 data included Cyprus
58	Montenegro	19.00	11.50	14.83	20.13	21.33	20.75	pre-2007 data from Serbia and Montenegro
60	Kosovo	19.75	16.00	25.75	20.13	21.33	20.75	pre-2005 data from Serbia and Montenegro
61	Hong Kong	20.00	14.00	8.25	7.50	11.00	4.83
61	Madagascar	20.00	15.00	24.50	18.50	8.17	22.75
63	Kuwait	20.17	17.00	21.25	31.67	31.33	25.50
64	El Salvador	20.20	10.00	5.75	6.00	6.83	8.75
65	United Arab Emirates	20.25	17.50	25.75	50.25	37.00
66	Georgia	20.83	21.00	25.17	27.50	17.33
67	Serbia	21.00	11.50	14.83	20.13	21.33	20.75	pre-2007 data from Serbia and Montenegro
68	Bolivia	21.50	4.50	9.67	20.00	9.67	14.50
68	Burkina Faso	21.50	16.00	19.00	16.25	18.00	27.75
68	Zambia	21.50	22.50	23.00	29.75	23.25	26.75
71	Central African Republic	22.50	14.50	19.75	32.50	32.75	21.50
72	Dominican Republic	22.75	12.75	12.25	6.75	17.00
73	Mozambique	23.00	11.50	10.50	16.25	14.00	23.50
74	Mongolia	23.40	19.25	12.50	19.00	18.25	24.50
75	Botswana	23.50	13.00	14.00	11.50	13.00
75	Haiti	23.50	19.50	33.50	42.13	31.00	36.50
77	Armenia	23.63	25.50	26.00	23.50	25.17
78	Kenya	23.75	30.25	30.00	22.25	18.50	24.75
79	Qatar	24.00	18.00	23.00	32.50	35.00
80	Republic of the Congo	24.50	17.00	17.00	17.50	14.00	23.17
81	Moldova	24.75	19.17	17.50	20.50	27.00
82	Argentina	24.83	17.30	13.67	21.33	15.17	12.00
83	Senegal	25.00	17.50	19.00	21.50	14.50	14.00
84	Brazil	25.25	17.17	14.50	16.50	16.75	18.75
85	Cambodia	25.33	27.25	23.00	36.50	19.50	24.25
85	Liberia	25.33	19.00	20.50	40.00	40.00	37.75
87	Albania	25.50	18.00	14.17	11.50	6.50
87	Honduras	25.50	14.50	18.00	11.75	14.17
87	Niger	25.50	24.50	13.00	18.33	15.75	18.50
90	Paraguay	26.10	18.25	15.50	10.50	7.17	8.50
91	Angola	26.50	21.50	18.00	26.50	28.00	30.17
92	Malawi	26.75	25.50	22.75	31.00	21.00	27.67
92	Ukraine	26.75	26.50	32.50	51.00	40.00	40.00
94	Côte d’Ivoire	27.00	25.00	52.25	60.38	42.17	19.00
94	Timor-Leste	27.00	18.50	13.50	13.50	5.50
96	Comoros	28.00	22.50	22.00	26.50	18.50	20.50
96	Uganda	28.00	29.83	19.25	24.00	25.75	17.00
98	Lebanon	28.75	27.00	28.25	24.38	32.50	19.67
99	Lesotho	29.50	16.00	19.50	29.50	17.75
100	Indonesia	30.50	26.00	26.00	37.75	34.25	20.00
101	Turkey	31.25	25.00	25.00	37.25	35.00	33.50
102	Gabon	31.50	28.50	26.00	37.50	31.25	20.50
103	Israel (extra-territorial)	32.00	47.00		37.50	49.00
104	Guatemala	33.00	21.25	21.50	16.50	30.83	27.25
104	Seychelles	33.00	24.50	17.00	23.50	26.75	20.75
106	Morocco	33.25	24.83	36.17	43.00	39.67	29.00
107	Fiji	33.50	14.00	14.00	16.00	11.50
107	Guinea	33.50	27.50	26.00	24.50	33.17	26.00
107	Guinea-Bissau	33.50	14.50	17.00	23.50	35.25	30.25
110	Kyrgyzstan	33.60	34.00	32.00	35.25	32.00	31.75
111	Cameroon	36.00	28.25	20.50	27.00	30.50	28.83
111	United States (extra-territorial)	36.00	31.50	48.50	36.00	41.00
113	Chad	36.50	35.50	30.00	33.25	24.00	28.75
114	Venezuela	36.88	29.00	23.00	24.63	27.83	25.00
115	Tajikistan	37.00	30.00	33.00	27.75	34.50	28.25
116	Bhutan	37.17	25.00	51.50	55.83	77.33	90.75
117	Peru	37.38	28.25	33.33	40.00	10.25	9.50
118	Bahrain	38.00	28.00	38.75	52.50	35.17	23.00
	Brunei						38.00
119	Tonga	38.25	13.00	14.50	38.17
120	India	39.33	26.50	27.00	38.50	39.00	26.50
121	Sierra Leone	39.50	26.00	39.50	24.50	23.50	24.50
122	Jordan	40.21	27.50	24.00	39.13	37.00	33.50
123	Algeria	40.50	40.00	40.33	43.50	33.00	31.00
124	Malaysia	41.00	22.25	33.00	39.83	32.00	37.83
125	Kazakhstan	41.63	41.00	36.17	44.17	42.50	42.00
126	Colombia	42.33	44.75	40.17	47.38	49.17	40.83
127	Burundi	43.40	39.83
128	Philippines	44.75	51.00	50.00	36.63	35.25	29.00
129	Maldives	45.17	51.25	58.50	69.17	47.50
130	Gambia	48.25	54.00	41.00	29.50	18.25	22.50
131	Nigeria	49.83	32.23	38.75	37.75	31.50	15.50
132	Djibouti	50.25	33.00	37.00	55.00	35.50	31.25
133	Democratic Republic of the Congo	50.50	51.00	57.33	51.50	38.50	40.75
134	Bangladesh	53.17	48.00	61.25	62.50	46.50	43.75
135	Thailand	53.50	33.50	28.00	14.00	19.67	22.75
136	Mexico	53.63	45.83	45.50	27.83	17.67	24.75
137	Nepal	53.75	73.50	86.75	84.00	51.50	63.00
138	Swaziland	54.50	40.50	35.00	31.00	37.50	29.00
139	Azerbaijan	55.40	47.00	51.00	49.67	34.50	34.50
140	Sudan	55.75	48.13	44.00	44.25	45.75	36.00
141	Singapore	56.00	51.50	50.67	57.00	47.33
142	Afghanistan	56.50	44.25	39.17	28.25	40.17	35.50
143	Yemen	56.67	54.00	46.25	48.00	41.83	34.75
144	Russia	56.90	52.50	48.67	51.38	49.50	48.00
145	Tunisia	57.00	53.75	57.50	62.67	50.83	67.75
	Oman					57.75
146	Egypt	58.00	46.25	52.00	43.50	34.25	34.50
147	Rwanda	58.88	41.00	38.00	37.25	34.25	37.50
148	Saudi Arabia	59.75	76.00	66.00	79.17	71.50	62.50
149	Zimbabwe	62.00	50.00	64.25	67.50	45.50	48.25
150	Ethiopia	63.00	75.00	42.00	37.00	37.50	37.50
151	Belarus	63.63	57.00	61.33	54.10	52.00	52.17
152	Pakistan	64.83	70.33	60.75	61.75	39.00	44.67
153	Equatorial Guinea	65.25	48.00	44.00	46.25	44.75	42.75
154	Syria	66.00	63.00	55.00	67.50	67.50	62.83
155	Libya	66.50	62.50	88.75	65.00	60.00	72.50
156	Sri Lanka	67.50	50.75	33.25	36.50	24.83	15.75
157	Iraq	67.83	66.83	67.00	58.50	37.50	79.00
158	Palestinian Authority	69.83	46.75	42.50	43.17	39.25	27.00
159	Somalia	71.50	51.25	59.00	43.50	45.00
160	Uzbekistan	74.88	71.00	66.50	52.13	61.50	45.00
161	Laos	75.00	67.50	66.50	64.33	94.83	89.00
162	Vietnam	79.25	67.25	73.25	86.88	89.17	81.25
163	People’s Republic of China (mainland only)	89.00	94.00	83.00	92.33	91.25	97.00
164	Myanmar	93.75	94.75	88.83	103.63	95.50	96.83
165	Cuba	96.17	95.00	87.00	106.83	97.83	90.25
166	Iran	96.50	90.88	89.17	78.30	89.33	48.25
167	Turkmenistan	103.75	98.50	93.50	99.83	82.83	91.50
168	North Korea	108.75	109.00	109.00	107.50	99.50	97.50
169	Eritrea	114.75	97.50	99.75	93.25	91.50	83.67

Venezuela: One year later, RCTV still can´t broadcast

by Luís Henrique Vieira

On last wednesday (07.30.2008), the RCTV (Radio Caracas Televisión) defeat again trying to get back the right to broadcast as an open signal company. The Supreme Court judged “improced” the measure from the venezuelan TV company.

RCTV is not broadcasting on open TV since May of last year, when the president Hugo Chávez did not allow to renew the license of the television. The reason was the politic opinion of the TV. Otherside, Chávez said the RCTV conspired against him.

With that, many people went to the street to complain about the president´s decision. RCTV was the most watch channel in the country and the signal was changed TVEs (Televisora Venezolana Social), which is the state TV and is considered kind of boring. It broadcasts just government´s subjects. RCTV is well-known as the TV of novels and reality shows.

Shuting up anyone

The censorship of Chávez is not for TV companies. He does not allow a concert from the spanish singer Alejandro Sanz last year. The reason: Sanz said the doesn´t like Chávez. The tickets were already sold out, but the president of Venezuela did not care about it. Sanz just said: “I don’t like President Chávez, I don’t like presidents of other countries either, and I don’t think my president has done a good job either.”

The singer reacted at a concert in Miami. He put a shirt that  that said Chávez Sucks. Were present thousands of latins in that concert.

A good tip: Feel free of firewalls in China

Porto Alegre, August 2nd, 2008

by Luís Henrique Vieira

While the China´s government still with censorship about websites, you can have fun by yourself. The GIFC (Global Internet Freedom Consortium) offers an anti-censorship software to help the people to have free access to the internet. GIFC partner organizations developed tools of all types and flavors since 2000. Some tools like UltraSurf, FreeGate, Garden, Garden, GPass and FirePhoenix are already being used for chinese navigators. The Organization says that nearly one million users are usings that tools arround the world.

So, if you need enable the enable the freedom at internet in China, you have just to dowmload the tools at http://www.internetfreedom.com. There is no charge for that. Enjoy it!