{"id":6278,"date":"2012-01-25T13:14:41","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T21:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6278"},"modified":"2012-01-25T13:14:41","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T21:14:41","slug":"u-s-falls-to-47th-place-on-press-freedom-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6278","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Falls to 47th Place On Press Freedom Index"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reporters Without Borders released their annual Press Freedom Index<\/a> today that ranks 179 countries for their treatment of journalists and respect for a free and independent press. There were some points of light internationally, but as their report notes:<\/p>\n

“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The United States performed particularly poorly, dropping 27 places this year to 47th worldwide. When compared only to the 20 largest nations (by GDP), the U.S. came in at #11, behind countries like Taiwan and South Korea.<\/p>\n

The precipitous decline was attributed to the surge in arrests of reporters at Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. There was a notable pattern of both arrests and assaults by law enforcement of journalists covering the events. Last November the Society of Professional Journalists issued a condemnation<\/a> of such practices and called on…<\/p>\n

“…city administrators across the country to drop charges against journalists arrested while covering the Occupy Wall Street and related protests.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Josh Stearns of FreePress.net has been tracking the arrests<\/a> and harassment of journalists across the country. To date he has identified 36 victims. But this list is not comprehensive. One incident that was left out<\/a> involved reporters from a Fox News affiliate (of all places) in New York who were covering the protests when they were embroiled in a chaotic scuffle that resulted in the photographer getting maced and the reporter getting struck by a police baton.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/object><\/p>\n

This is an embarrassing development for a country whose Constitution explicitly protects freedom of the press. It indicates that we still have some work to do and that eternal vigilance is not just a figure of speech..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reporters Without Borders released their annual Press Freedom Index today that ranks 179 countries for their treatment of journalists and respect for a free and independent press. There were some points of light internationally, but as their report notes: “Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[1135,934],"class_list":["post-6278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-press","category-general","tag-free-press","tag-occupy-wall-street"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-1Dg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37706,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=37706","url_meta":{"origin":6278,"position":0},"title":"Thanks to Donald Trump the U.S. Falls to 45th Place in the World Press Freedom Index","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/25\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"There is no question that Donald Trump is a bitter enemy of of press freedom and the Constitution's First Amendment. He has relentlessly maligned the media in an attempt to persuade his followers that he is the only source of truthful information about the government and his administration. It's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=56"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Censorship","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":6278,"position":1},"title":"Press Freedom Declines In U.S.","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/26\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fifth Annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index is out and it doesn't look good for the United States. In a field of 168 countries, the U.S. finishes 53rd, sandwiched between the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. The embarrassment of such a poor ranking is exacerbated by the fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32880,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=32880","url_meta":{"origin":6278,"position":2},"title":"Journalists’ Org BLASTS Trump As ‘An Unprecedented Threat\u2019 To Press Freedom","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/13\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The United States has never seen the likes of Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign. He has spent the last year and a half engaged solely in puerile insults and personal attacks. His victims have included women, minorities, veterans, and anyone he deemed less than reverential. 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