Given that today is World Press Freedom Day, it’s an appropriate time for Reporters Without Borders to release its annual report on the state of press freedom around the world.
While the report is laden with bad news for those of us who believe in freedom, there is some good news:
There was also good news in 2005, which encourages us to continue campaigning. The release of a journalist, the reopening of a censored media outlet or the sentencing of an enemy of press freedom cheer us and make us cautiously optimistic. The media is freer now in India, some Central American countries and the Indonesian province of Aceh.
The good news is offset by so much that is wrong. You need only look at the rogue’s gallery in the Predators of Press Freedom.
This report is essential reading for journalists, journalists-to-be and those who care about the way our world works. And the work that Reporters Without Borders does is worthy of support.
