Reporters Without Borders 2014 report…
Guyana moves up 2 points, U.S. declines by 13 on press freedom index
REPORTERS Without Borders’ annual Freedom Index report ranked the United States of America (USA) 46th in the world regarding freedom of information, a drop of 13 spots from last year, the highest in the Western Hemisphere.And Guyana has moved two points up from last year, from 69 to 67 out of 180 countries across the globe.
The comparisons attracted the attention of high-ranking Government officials, in view of critical comments made by the United States Ambassador to Guyana, Brent Hardt, who addressed the state of Guyana’s press freedom at his annual Press Freedom Day reception, which was held at his Cummings Lodge residence, last Friday.
On Wednesday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, stated that Ambassador Hardt’s “preposterous and outrageous” claims “inveigled against the Government of Guyana for not respecting freedom of the press and for, among other things, intimidating the media.”
Luncheon said, “If intimidation is at work, threats of denials of U.S. visas seem more intimidating to journalists than mere Government criticisms.”
He said, too, that “Cabinet was outraged at the ambassador’s outbursts, particularly when the very actions of the U.S. authorities in the White House, with regards to their own media houses, project an insight that the Ambassador does well in concealing, not highlighting.”
Dr Luncheon said Hardt’s claims fly in the face of reality and his claims of intimidation in the local media are both hilarious and cynical.
The HPS lauded the Attorney General’s (AG) rejoinders at that event fully represented the Government’s views about the Ambassador’s “studied impertinence” and double standards.
REJOINDERS
The Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, flayed the Ambassador for his criticisms of press freedom in Guyana, a developing country, given the state of press freedom in the United States of America.
He said, “I didn’t hear the Ambassador speak about press freedom and journalism as it exists in the United States. The U.S. has its own problems as well. Al Jazeera took nearly a decade to get license to broadcast in the United States of America. We all have challenges. Many people will tell you that any dispute involving the United States of America, if you want to get an accurate picture of it you don’t look at certain television broadcasts in the U.S., you look at BBC and other television stations.
“So every country has (its) own peculiar biases and prejudices, and the news is going to be slanted in a particular way. Guyana, I suppose, is no different.”
According to him, Guyana has come a far way in terms of press freedom, and is making moves to advance this effort – which is the context in which the subject of press freedom must be viewed.
He said, “Before we assess today’s state of the press in Guyana, I believe it is incumbent that we reflect on what existed before we can make an accurate assessment.
“…not so far in our distant past, we lived in a society where the press was absolutely controlled by the Government of the day. The medium through which information was disseminated was singularly from the Government sources.
“Newsprint was denied to Opposition political parties for the publication of their newspapers, and when a legal challenge was launched against that restriction on the importation of newsprint, the highest court of the land ruled that there is no direct impact between newsprint, the importation of which was necessary at the time, that there was no direct impact between newsprint and freedom of the process. We come from a history where journalists were beaten, brutalised, jailed, and murdered.”
Nandlall stated that Guyana today has Government newspapers, private newspapers, private media houses operating some 20-odd television stations, Internet-generated news agencies, and the opening of the radio spectrum where eight radio stations are currently operating, only two of which are controlled by the Government.
He stressed too that there is absolutely no attempt by the Administration to influence what private media houses publish.
Nandlall said, “There is no attempt to censor any journalist practising his trade or professional pursuit in this country. None at all! In fact, what we have in Guyana is press freedom sometimes being abused. One only has to pick up the newspaper and you see the extremity about which I speak.”
The AG reiterated that before comments are made about the state of any situation, there must be consideration of what existed before and what obtains in present day.
US RANKING
According to the report, countries, like the USA, which pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example in the area of press freedom; rather the reality is far from it.
The report said, “Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices. Investigative journalism often suffers as a result.
“This has been the case in the United States (46th), which fell 13 places, one of the most significant declines, amid increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks. The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in the public interest.
“US journalists were stunned by the Department of Justice’s seizure of Associated Press phone records without warning in order to identify the source of a CIA leak. It served as a reminder of the urgent need for a “shield law” to protect the confidentiality of journalists’ sources at the federal level. The revival of the legislative process is little consolation for James Risen of The New York Times, who is subject to a court order to testify against a former CIA employee accused of leaking classified information. And less still for Barrett Brown, a young freelance journalist facing 105 years in prison in connection with the posting of information that hackers obtained from Statfor, a private intelligence company with close ties to the federal government.”
It added that an increased focus on cracking down on whistleblowers has significantly dropped the United States’ press freedom ranking in the world.
“Both the U.S. and U.K. authorities seem obsessed with hunting down whistleblowers instead of adopting legislation to rein in abusive surveillance practices that negate privacy, a democratic value cherished in both countries,” the report said.
Finland, the Netherlands and Norway topped the list, while Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan were considered the most hostile nations in the world for press freedom. The report, which ranks 180 countries, “reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations and (internet users) enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom,” according to the study’s methodology. Reporters Without Borders is a non-profit organisation that aims to protect journalists around the world, and acts as a watchdog for abuses.
(By Vanessa Narine )
The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed. This trend constitutes a growing threat worldwide and is even endangering freedom of information in countries regarded as democracies. Finland tops the index for the fourth year running, closely followed by Netherlands and Norway, like last year. At the other end of the index, the last three positions are again held by Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, three countries where freedom of information is non-existent. Despite occasional turbulence in the past year, these countries continue to be news and information black holes and living hells for the journalists who inhabit them. This year’s index covers 180 countries, one more than last year. The new entry, Belize, has been assigned an enviable position (29th). Cases of violence against journalists are rare in Belize but there were some problems: defamation suits involving demands for large amounts in damages, national security restrictions on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and sometimes unfair management of broadcast frequencies.