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Mozambique: More Press Freedom in Mozambique Than in USA

The press is freer in Mozambique than it is in the United States, according to the latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index, published by the Paris-based press freedom body, Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters without Borders).

The RSF index gives each country a score, based on the degree of freedom for journalists and media organisations. The best possible score would be zero, and a few European countries approach this. Tied at the top of the index, with a score of 0.5 are Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Holland.

Over the past few years, Mozambique's ranking has improved. In 2004, Mozambique was ranked 64th out of 167 countries. In the 2005 index, Mozambique was ranked 49th, and this year it has risen to 45 out of 168, a position shared with Cape Verde, Macedonia and Serbia.

But the United States has been falling steadily. In the first year the index was published it was in 17th position. Last year the US was in 44th position, and this year it is ranked as number 53 alongside Botswana, Croatia and Tonga.

RSF explains that this decline arises from the deterioration in relations between the Bush administration and the media "after the President used the pretext of "national security" to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his "war on terrorism". RSF also points out that US federal courts refuse to recognise journalists' cherished right not to reveal their sources. This "even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism".

RSF notes, in particular, the cases of freelance journalist Josh Wolf, imprisoned by the US authorities when he refused to hand over his video archive; of Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj held without trial at the US military base of Guantanamo since June 2002; and of an Associated Press photographer, Bilal Hussein, held by the US in Iraq since April this year.

There seems no limit to how bad a score can get, but the paranoid dictatorship of North Korea comes bottom of the pile, at number 168, with a score of 109. Runners up in infamy are Turkmenistan (98.5) and Eritrea (97.5).

In the RSF index, the African countries with the freest press are Benin (ranked at 23), Namibia (26), Mauritius (32), Ghana (34) and Mali (35).

The index covers events between 1 September 2005 and 1 September 2006, and is based on a questionnaire sent by RSF to 14 other freedom of expression groups on five continents, and to 130 RSF correspondents scattered across the globe, plus a variety of other journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists.

To include any country in the index, RSF requires completed questionnaires from several sources. Thus a few countries are not in the index at all because of a lack of data. Among its 50 questions, the questionnaire asks how many journalists have been murdered, jailed, tortured, assaulted, threatened, or forced out of the country in the year under analysis. It also considers censorship and self-censorship, searches of media premises, and the jamming of radio broadcasts. It asks whether access to the profession of journalism is controlled (through such measures as a compulsory certificate), whether a licence is needed to start a newspaper, and whether there are undue restrictions on foreign investment in the media.

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