Funferal

Reporters sans frontiers rankings

The second RSF press freedom ranking has hard-hitting comments on both the USA and Israel:

The Israeli army’s repeated abuses against journalists in the occupied territories and the US army’s responsibility in the death of several reporters during the war in Iraq constitute unacceptable behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression.

Ireland, incidently, is joint 17th – which puts it 8th in terms of current EU members (behind Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria). The EU is noted for generally getting good rankings, except for Italy and Spain (incidentally, both supporters of the war on Iraq). The report notes “a draft law to reform radio and TV broadcasting, tailored to Berlusconi’s interests, is likely to increase the threats to news diversity in Italy” while Spain’s ranking “is due to difficulties for journalists in the Basque country.”