Freedom of the Press 2013 Middle east Volatility Amid Global decline selected data from freedom house’s annual press freedom index PRESS FREEDOM IN 2012: MIDDLE EAST VOLATILITY AMID GLOBAL DECLINE by Karin Deutsch Karlekar and Jennifer Dunham Ongoing political turmoil produced uneven political commentary online. Influential conditions for press freedom in the Middle East powers—such as China, Russia, Iran, and in 2012, with Tunisia and Libya largely Venezuela—have long resorted to a variety of retaining their gains from 2011 even as Egypt techniques to maintain a tight grip on the media, slid backward into the Not Free category. The detaining some press critics, closing down or region as a whole experienced a net decline for otherwise censoring media outlets and blogs, the year, in keeping with a broader global and bringing libel or defamation suits against pattern in which the percentage of people world- journalists. Russia, which adopted additional wide who enjoy a free media environment fell to restrictions on internet content in 2012, set a its lowest point in more than a decade. Among negative tone for the rest of Eurasia, where the more disturbing developments in 2012 were conditions remained largely grim. In China, the dramatic declines for Mali, significant installation of a new Communist Party deterioration in Greece, and a further tightening leadership did not produce any immediate of controls on press freedom in Latin America, relaxation of constraints on either traditional punctuated by the decline media or the internet. In of two countries, Ecuador In 2012, the percentage of people fact, the Chinese regime, and Paraguay, from Partly worldwide who enjoy a free media which boasts the world’s Free to Not Free status. environment fell to its lowest point in most intricate and These were the most more than a decade. elaborate system of media significant findings of repression, stepped up its Freedom of the Press 2013: A Global Survey of drive to limit both old and new sources of Media Independence, the latest edition of an information through arrests and censorship. annual index published by Freedom House since Authoritarian powers were joined in the 1980. While there were positive developments in Not Free camp by a total of five countries that Burma, the Caucasus, parts of West Africa, and had previously ranked as Partly Free: Ecuador, elsewhere, the dominant trends were reflected in Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Paraguay, and Thailand. setbacks in a range of political settings. Reasons The disheartening reversal in Egypt was driven for decline included the continued, increasingly by a constellation of factors, including officially sophisticated repression of independent tolerated campaigns to intimidate journalists, journalism and new media by authoritarian increased efforts to prosecute reporters and regimes; the ripple effects of the European commentators for insulting the political economic crisis and longer-term challenges to leadership or defaming religion, and intensified the financial sustainability of print media; and polarization of the pro– and anti–Muslim ongoing threats from nonstate actors such as Brotherhood press, which reduced the radical Islamists and organized crime groups. availability of balanced coverage. The trend of overall decline occurred, Meanwhile, Ecuador’s slide into the Not paradoxically, in a context of increasingly Free range capped one of the largest cumulative diverse news sources and ever-expanding means declines for any country in the index over the of political communication. The growth of these past five years. The latest setbacks stem from new media has triggered a repressive backlash President Rafael Correa’s ongoing and multi- by authoritarian regimes that have carefully faceted assault on the press, which has included controlled television and other mass media and attempts to hinder the monitoring roles of local are now alert to the dangers of unfettered and regional freedom of expression watchdogs. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 2013 Other notable declines occurred in the Maldives, registered the survey’s largest numerical which remained Partly Free, and Cambodia and improvement of the year due to people’s Kazakhstan, which were already Not Free. increased ability to access information and the The past year also brought a series of release of imprisoned bloggers and video declines in both established and young journalists, among other factors. democracies. Mali, which had been Africa’s freest media environment for a number of years, Key Trends in 2012 suffered the year’s largest numerical slide, and a status change to Partly Free, due to media Heightened contestation over new media: restrictions associated with a military coup and Citizen journalists and their use of new the capture of the northern half of the country by media tools—including microblogs, online Islamist militants. Meanwhile, political unrest social networks, mobile telephones, and and financial pressures brought on by the other information and communication European economic crisis took a toll on media technologies (ICTs)—have made major freedom in Greece, which fell into the Partly contributions to revolutions in the Middle Free category as well. A more modest East and prevented authoritarian regimes in deterioration was noted in Israel, now rated China, Russia, and elsewhere from gaining Partly Free due to instances of political total domination of the information interference with content and financial pressure landscape. However, a range of gov- on independent print outlets. ernments intensified efforts to restrict new As a result of declines in both authoritarian media. Repressive measures included the and democratic settings over the past several passage or heightened use of new years, the proportion of the global population cybercrime laws (Thailand, Russia); jailing that enjoys a Free press has fallen to its lowest of bloggers (Egypt, Gulf Arab states, level in over a decade. The report found that less Vietnam); and blocks on web-based content than 14 percent of the world’s people—or and text-messaging services during periods roughly one in six—live in countries where of political upheaval (India, Tajikistan). coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media Fair elections impossible without free affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to press: Political contests in a number of key onerous legal or economic pressures. Moreover, countries in 2012 demonstrated that a level in the most recent five-year period, significant electoral playing field is impossible when country declines have far outnumbered gains, the government, as in authoritarian settings suggesting that attempts to restrict press freedom like Russia or Venezuela, is able to use its are widespread and challenges to expanding control over broadcast media to skew media diversity and access to information coverage, and ultimately votes, in its favor. remain considerable. Among countries on an authoritarian There were some promising developments trajectory, restrictive laws on coverage of during the year to partially offset these candidates in Ecuador and biased coverage worrisome trends. Positive movement occurred by state media in Ukraine were also used to in a number of key countries in Asia the ruling party’s advantage. By contrast, (Afghanistan and Burma), Eurasia (Armenia and more balanced and open media coverage Georgia), and sub-Saharan Africa (Côte prior to electoral contests in Armenia and d’Ivoire, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal, Georgia helped lead to gains for opposition and Zimbabwe), as well as in Yemen. Many parties and, in Georgia, a peaceful transfer advances occurred in the context of new of power. governments that either rolled back restrictive legal and regulatory provisions or allowed Gains in West Africa: Despite the notable greater space for vibrant and critical media to declines in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, West operate. Particularly noteworthy was the Africa as a whole continued to secure continued dramatic opening in Burma, which improved environments for media in 2012. 2 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 2013 A number of the gains took place in What the Index Measures countries—such as Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal—where new governments dem- The Freedom of the Press index assesses onstrated greater respect for press freedom the degree of print, broadcast, and and engaged in less legal and physical internet freedom in every country in the harassment of journalists than their world, analyzing the events and predecessors. Increased media diversity, developments of each calendar year. including an array of private broadcasters Ratings are determined through an that are able to express critical opinions, was examination of three broad categories: the apparent in Liberia and Mauritania. Coming legal environment in which media in the wake of recent improvements in other operate; political influences on reporting countries, such as Niger and Sierra Leone, and access to information; and economic these changes made the subregion a relative pressures on content and the bright spot during the year. dissemination of news. Declines due to Europe’s economic crisis: Under the legal category, the index assesses the laws and regulations that The European economic crisis weakened could influence media content as well as press freedom in several countries. Notable the extent to which the government uses declines were seen in Southern Europe, these tools to restrict the media’s ability including