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The Philippines was again mentioned as a terrible
place for journalists in Freedom House’s latest report on press
freedom around the world.
The review noted, “Violence
against journalists and, in many cases, corresponding impunity
regarding past cases of abuse ,was a key factor in determining press
freedom in countries as diverse as Mexico, Russia, and the
Philippines.”
Global press freedom suffered a
clear decline in 2007, with journalists struggling to work in
increasingly hostile environments in almost every region in the
world, according to a new survey released on Wednesday Manila time
by Freedom House. The decline in press freedom—which occurred in
authoritarian countries and established democracies
alike—continues a six-year negative trend.
Philippine rating: 45
The Philippines retained its
“Partly Free” status and its total score of 45 based on its
scores of 11 for Legal Environment, 23 for Political Environment,
and 11 for Economic Environment, the Freedom House review of
Philippine press freedom said.
“While reports are often
rooted in sensationalism and innuendo, media in the Philippines have
historically ranked among the freest, most vibrant, and outspoken in
Southeast Asia. However, press freedom in 2007 continued to face
limits due to the ongoing threat posed by journalist-targeted
violence and the use of defamation suits to silence criticism of
public officials, while the arrests of 30 media workers covering a
coup attempt in November and subsequent warnings infringed upon news
coverage of a significant national event.”
The Philippine review mentioned
lawyer Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, President Gloria Arroyo’s
husband, and his filing and then withdrawal of libel suit against
newsmen and the arrest of journalists covering the Peninsula Hotel
caper led by now Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th.
Among the Philippines’ fellow
members of Asean, Burma’s rating worsened to the level of that of
North Korea.
And in the Asia-Pacific region,
the report noted that restrictions on media coverage were imposed in
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, and Vietnam’s government
cracked down on dissident writers.
“Improvements in a small number
of countries were far overshadowed by a continued, relentless
assault on independent news media,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar,
Freedom House senior researcher and managing editor of the survey.
“We are particularly concerned that while abuses of press freedom
continue unabated in restrictive environments such as China, threats
are also apparent in countries with an established record of media
freedom and in newer democracies in Central Europe and Africa.”
World Press Freedom Day
The survey, released annually in
advance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, assesses the degree of
print, broadcast, and Internet freedom in every country in the
world.
The 2008 ratings are based on an
assessment of the legal, political, and economic environments in
which journalists worked in 2007.
Freedom House presented the
findings written in its “Freedom of the Press 2008: A Global
Survey of Media Independence” at the Newseum in Washington.
Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor unveiled the Map
of Press Freedom 2008, a central exhibit featured in the Newseum’s
Time Warner World News Gallery.
While the survey indicated that
setbacks in press freedom outnumbered advances two to one globally,
there was some improvement in the region with the least amount of
press freedom: the Middle East and North Africa. The survey
attributes the gains there to a growing number of journalists who
were willing to challenge government restraints, a pushback trend
seen in other regions as well.
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