Reporters Without Borders
01-25-2012
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012: Indonesia 146th
http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html(not working before GMT 8.00AM)
Violence and censorship on the rise in Asia
Violence and impunity persist in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Philippines, more repression
in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China
In
Afghanistan (150th) and Pakistan (151st), violence remained the main
concern for
journalists, who were under constant threat from the
Taliban, religious extremists,
separatist movements and political
groups. With 10 deaths in 2011, Pakistan was the
world’s deadliest
country for journalists for the second year in a row.
In
the Philippines (140th), which rose again in the index after falling in
2010 as a result
ofthe massacre of 32 journalists in Ampatuan in
November 2009, paramilitary groups
and private militias continued to
attack media workers. The judicial investigation into
the Ampatuan
massacre made it clear that the response of the authorities was
seriously inadequate.
Journalists continued to be
exposed to violence in Bangladesh (129th) and Nepal (106th),
although
less than in the past. In Nepal, journalists were regularly subjected
to threats
from rival political groups and their supporters. In
Bangladesh, opposition groups and
the ruling Awami League took turns to
attack and obstruct the press. Despite genuine
media pluralism, the law
allows the government to maintain excessive control over the
media and
the Internet.
In Nepal, a decline in attacks by Maoist
groups in the south and greater efficiency on the
part of the justice
system account for the modest improvement in the country’s ranking.
However, press freedom was marred by threats and attacks by politicians
and armed
groups throughout the year.
Authoritarianism and ambivalence at the bottom of the index
Freedom of information worsened considerably in two Asian countries under
authoritarian rule.
China,
which has more journalists, bloggers and cyber-dissidents in prison
than any other
country, stepped up its censorship and propaganda in
2011 and tightened its control of
the Internet, particularly the
blogosphere. The first protest movements in Arab countries
and the
ensuing calls for democracy in China’s main cities set off a wave of
arrests with
no end yet in sight.
In the autonomous
regions of Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, protests by minorities
regularly gave rise to a harsh crackdown by the authorities. In Beijing
and Shanghai, international correspondents were particular targets of
the security forces and had to
work under the continual threat of
expulsion or having their visas withdrawn. Journalists
were prevented
from covering most of the events that threatened China’s stability or
might have given it a negative image.
Vietnam (172nd)
appeared to follow China’s repressive lead and fell seven places.
Politically committed journalists and pro-democracy bloggers were
harassed by the authorities while the courts continued to invoke state
security to hand out prison
sentences ranging from two to seven years.
The blogger Pham Minh Hoang, for example,
was sentenced to three years
in prison and three years under house arrest on 10 August
on a charge
of trying to overthrow the government.
In Sri Lanka
(163rd), the stranglehold of the Rajapakse clan forced the last few
opposition
journalists to flee the country. Any that stayed behind were
regularly subjected to harassment and threats. Attacks were less common
but impunity and official censorship
of independent news sites put an
end to pluralism and contributed more than ever to self-censorship by
almost all media outlets.
Burma (169th) showed
signs of beginning to carry out reforms including partial
amnesties and
a reduction in prior censorship, but it remained largely under the
control
of an authoritarian government run by former members of the
military junta reinvented
as civilian politicians. Less than 10 of its
journalists remain in prison at the start of 2012.
In
North Korea (178th), although news and information was able to move
across its
borders to a greater extent, no one knows whether this will
continue under Kim Jong-un,
the son and heir of Kim Jong-il. The
dynastic succession, the dominance of the military machine and the
government’s desire for power give no grounds for optimism.
At the top, the good boys turn bad
Those
who are traditionally good performers did not shine in 2011. With New
Zealand’s
fall to 13thposition, no country in the Asia-Pacific region
figured among the top 10 in the
index. Hong Kong (54th) saw a sharp
deterioration in press freedom in 2011 and its
ranking fell sharply.
Arrests, assaults and harassment worsened working conditions for
journalists to an extent not seen previously, a sign of a worrying
change in government policy.
In Australia (30th), the
media were subjected to investigations and criticism by the
authorities, and were denied access to information, while in Japan
(22nd) coverage of the
tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident gave
rise to excessive restrictions and
exposed the limits of the pluralism
of the country’s press.
Causes for concern
In
India (131st), journalists were exposed to violence stemming from the
persistent
conflicts in the states of Chhattisgarh and Jammu and
Kashmir. The threat from mafia
groups operating in the main cities of
the coutnry also contributed to self-censorship. However, the
authorities were no better. In May, they unveiled the “Information
Technology Rules 2011,” which have dangerous implications for online
freedom of expression. Foreign reporters saw their visa requests turned
down or were pressured
to provide positive coverage.
In
Indonesia, an army crackdown in West Papua province, where at least two
journalists
were killed, five kidnapped and 18 assaulted in 2011, was
the main reason for the
country’s fall to 146thposition in the index. A
corrupt judiciary that is too easily
influenced by politicians and
pressure groups and government attempts to control the
media and
Internet have prevented the development of a freer press.
Illegal detention and intimidation in Mongolia (100th) and the Maldives (73rd) showed
up
the weakness of press freedom there. A climate of religious intolerance
prevailed in
the Maldives, where media organizations were subjected to
threats by the authorities
and had to deal with an Islamic affairs
ministry bent on imposing the Sharia to the
detriment of free
expression.
______________________________
In the rest of the world:
Crackdowns on protests cause big changes to index positions
Syria, Bahrain and Yemen get worst ever rankings
“This
year’s index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a
year that
was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab
world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th
annual press freedom index. “Many media paid
dearly for their coverage
of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of
news and
information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of
survival
for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also
highlighted the leading role
played by netizens in producing and
disseminating news.
“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. The equation is
simple: the absence or suppression of
civil liberties leads necessarily
to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear
and ban
information, especially when it may undermine them.
“It
is no surprise that the same trio of countries, Eritrea, Turkmenistan
and North Korea,
absolute dictatorships that permit no civil liberties,
again occupy the last three places in
the index. This year, they are
immediately preceded at the bottom by Syria, Iran and
China, three
countries that seem to have lost contact with reality as they have been
sucked into an insane spiral of terror, and by Bahrain and Vietnam,
quintessential
oppressive regimes. Other countries such as Uganda and
Belarus have also become
much more repressive.
“This
year’s index finds the same group of countries at its head, countries
such as Finland,
Norway and Netherlands that respect basic freedoms.
This serves as a reminder that
media independence can only be
maintained in strong democracies and that democracy
needs media
freedom. It is worth noting the entry of Cape Verde and Namibia into
the top
twenty, two African countries where no attempts to obstruct the
media were reported in 2011.”
Protest movements
The
Arab world was the motor of history in 2011 but the Arab uprisings have
had
contrasting political outcomes so far, with Tunisia and Bahrain at
opposite ends of the
scale. Tunisia (134th) rose 30 places in index
and, with much suffering, gave birth to a
democratic regime that has
not yet fully accepted a free and independent press. Bahrain
(173rd)
fell 29 places because of its relentless crackdown on pro-democracy
movements,
its trials of human rights defenders and its suppression of
all space for freedom.
While Libya (154th) turned the
page on the Gaddafi era, Yemen succumbed to violence between President
Ali Abdallah Saleh’s opponents and supporters and languished in
171st
position. The future of both of these countries remains uncertain, and
the place
they will allow the media is undecided. The same goes for
Egypt, which fell 39 places to
166th because the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces, in power since February,
dashed the hopes of democrats by
continuing the Mubarak dictatorship’s practices.
There were three
periods of exceptional violence for journalists: in February, November
and December.
Already poorly ranked in 2010, Syria fell
further in the index, to 176th position, because
total censorship,
widespread surveillance, indiscriminate violence and government
manipulation made it impossible for journalists to work.
Elsewhere
in the world, pro-democracy movements that tried to follow the Arab
example
were ruthlessly suppressed. Many arrests were made in Vietnam
(172nd). In China
(174th), the government responded to regional and
local protests and to public
impatience with scandals and acts of
injustice by feverishly reinforcing its system of controlling news and
information, carrying out extrajudicial arrests and stepping up
Internet censorship. There was a dramatic rise in the number of arrests
in Azerbaijan (162nd), where Ilham Aliyev’s autocratic government did
not hesitate to jail netizens,
abduct opposition journalists and bar
foreign reporters in order to impose a news
blackout on the unrest.
Led
by President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda (139th) launched an unprecedented
crack
down on opposition movements and independent media after the
elections in February. Similarly, Chile (80th) fell 47 places because
of its many freedom of information violations,
committed very often by
the security forces during student protests. The United States
(47th)
also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist
covering Occupy
Wall Street protests.
Several European countries fall far behind rest of continent
The
index has highlighted the divergence of some European countries from
the rest of
the continent. The crackdown on protests after President
Lukashenko’s reelection caused
Belarus to fall 14 places to 168th. At a
time when it is portraying itself as a regional
model, Turkey (148th)
took a big step backwards and lost 10 places. Far from carrying
out
promised reforms, the judicial system launched a wave of arrests of
journalists that
was without precedent since the military dictatorship.
Within
the European Union, the index reflects a continuation of the very
marked
distinction between countries such as Finland and Netherlands
that have always had a
good evaluation and countries such as Bulgaria
(80th), Greece (70th) and Italy (61st) that
fail to address the issue
of their media freedom violations, above all because of a lack of
political will. There was little progress from France, which went from
44th to 38th, or
from Spain (39th) and Romania (47th). Media freedom is
a challenge that needs
addressing more than ever in the Balkans, which
want to join the European Union but
are suffering the negative effects of the economic crisis.
Endemic violence
Many
countries are marked by a culture of violence towards the media that
has taken a
deep hold. It will be hard to reverse the trends in these
countries without an effective
fight against impunity. Mexico (149th)
and Honduras (135th) are two cases in point.
Pakistan (151st) was the
world’s deadliest country for journalists for the second year running.
Somalia (164th), which has been at war for 20 years, shows no sign of
finding
a way out of the chaos in which journalists are paying a heavy
price.
In Iran (175th), hounding and humiliating
journalists has been part of officialdom’s
political culture for years.
The regime feeds on persecution of the media. Iraq (152nd)
fell back 22
places and is now worryingly approaching its 2008 position (158th).
Noteworthy changes
South
Sudan, a new nation facing many challenges, has entered the index in a
respectable
position (111th) for what is a breakaway from one of the
worst ranked countries, Sudan (170th). Burma (169th) has a slightly
better position than in previous years as a result of political changes
in recent months that have raised hopes but need to be confirmed.
Niger
(29th) achieved the biggest rise in a single year, 75 places, thanks to
a successful political transition.
It was Africa that
also saw the biggest falls in the index. Djibouti, a discreet little
dictatorship in the Horn of Africa, fell 49 places to 159th. Malawi
(146th) fell 67 places because of the totalitarian tendencies of its
president, Bingu Wa Mutharika. Uganda,
mentioned above, fell 43 places
to 139th. Finally, Côte d'Ivoire fell 41 places to 159th because the
media were badly hit by the fighting between the supporters of rival
presidents Laurent Gbagbo nand Alassane Ouattara.
The
biggest fall in Latin America was by Brazil, which plunged 41 places to
99th because
the high level of violence resulted in the deaths of three
journalists and bloggers.
--
Benjamin Ismaïl
Head of Asia-Pacific Desk
Reporters Without Borders
Paris - France
+33 1 44 83 84 70
Twitter: @RSFAsiaPacific, @RSF_Asia (中文)
Facebook : facebook.com/reporterswithoutborders
Skype: rsfasia
Website:
http://en.rsf.org/asia,2.html
Pada
tanggal 1 September 1995, Ahmad Taufik, Ketua Presidium Aliansi
Jurnalis Independen (AJI), divonis hukuman 2 tahun 8 bulan penjara di
Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Pusat. Taufik, ketika itu 30 tahun,
dipersalahkan melanggar pasal 154 KUHP yaitu menyebarkan perasaan
kebencian dan permusuhan kepada pemerintah melalui penerbitan
"Independen". Taufik ditangkap dalam sebuah acara halal-bihalal yang
diselenggarakan AJI di Hotel Wisata Jakarta. Anak Jakarta yang reporter
Majalah Mingguan Berita TEMPO itu ditahan bersama aktivis AJI Eko Maryadi dan kepala rumahtangga AJI Danang Kukuh Wardoyo.