JIM WATERSON
Journalists around the world are increasingly having to deal with threats of violence while carrying out their jobs, with politicians such as Donald Trump stoking a hatred of reporters that is degenerating into physical attacks, a report by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) warns.
The US fell down the RWB annual World Press Freedom Index and is now classed as a “problematic” country for journalists to work in, ranking below the likes of Romania, Chile, and Botswana.
This follows inflammatory comments by President Trump and a broader hatred of the media, which resulted in the shooting of five newspaper staff at the Capital Gazette in Maryland.
Among other issues in the last year, Trump branded several mainstream news outlets the “enemy of the American people”, while political reporters covering the White House have had to seek additional security measures, and newsrooms have been repeatedly targeted with bomb threats.
“If the political debate slides surreptitiously or openly towards a civil war-style atmosphere, in which journalists are treated as scapegoats, then democracy is in great danger,” said RWB’s secretary general, Christophe Deloire. “Halting this cycle of fear and intimidation is a matter of the utmost urgency for all people of goodwill who value the freedoms acquired in the course of history.”
Of the 180 countries and territories surveyed, only 43 were considered to have a “good” or “fairly good” rating for press freedom. As a result journalists have to deal with an “unprecedented level of fear and danger for journalists”.
The UK rose seven places to number 33 on the list, aided by the former culture secretary Matt Hancock’s decision to abandon proposals to make media organisations pay the costs of both sides in libel cases unless they signed up to an officially recognised press regulator.
However, the report’s authors warned the UK remained one of the worst- ranked western European countries “largely due to a heavy-handed approach towards the press, often in the name of national security”.
Among other issues, RWB cited the lack of protections for British journalists and whistleblowers in the government’s new Investigatory
Powers Act ; the UK’s mass surveillance regime, which was found to violate the European Convention on Human Rights, and new counter- terrorism legislation which critics say puts journalists’ data at risk .
It also highlighted the case of Northern Irish investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey who were arrested last year following their reporting on the Loughin Island massacre. The pair had their journalistic materials confiscated, and remains on police bail seven months after being arrested.
Once again the best-rated countries were in the Nordic region, with Norway retaining the top spot alongside Finland and Sweden.
Some of the worst falls were recorded in the Americas, where the new Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has repeatedly criticised the media.
Authoritarian regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua were also criticised.
There was positive news from some African countries, with substantial jumps in the press freedom rankings for The Gambia following a change of government .
The report also found that Ethiopia was “making spectacular progress” following the minister, Abiy Ahmed ’s rise to power last April. His decision to release many detained journalists and bloggers meant “for the first time in more than 10 years, no media professional was in prison at the end of 2018”. (The Guardian, UK)
Box
Top five countries for press freedom
1 Norway
2 Finland
3 Sweden
4 Netherlands
5 Denmark
Worst five countries for press freedom
176 Vietnam
177 China
178 Eritrea
179 North Korea
180 Turkmenistan
Donald Trump
2018
Abiy Ahmed’s decision to release many detained journalists and bloggers meant “for the first time in more than 10 years, no media professional was in prison
.
