Middle East Press Freedom, a Follow-up
The Freedom House released a report on the freedom of the press in the Middle East and North Africa. As usual, the report is informative and the data is very important. The report's rankings, charts and country narratives are available here.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its special report of 2006 “10 Most Censored Countries.” The Middle East countries included in the 10 Most Censored Countries list were LIBYA and SYRIA. I really miss Iran; do not you?
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has published a backgrounder on the oppression of the press in the Muslim world. It is actually about the Arab Muslim world.
Here is the press release of the Freedom House:
Press Freedom Must Continue to Improve in the Middle East and North Africa
New York,
April 27, 2006
Despite overall improvements in press freedom in the Middle East and North Africa over the last several years, the region continues to rank the lowest for press freedoms in the world, according to a major study released today by Freedom House. However, there are a number of countries that are close to an upgrade from Not Free to Partly Free status, if a few key reforms are implemented.
Generally, media in the region remain constrained by extremely restrictive legal environments in most countries. Most problematic to media freedom are the laws criminalizing libel and defamation and prohibiting any insult to monarchs and other rulers, as well as emergency legislation that remains in place which hampers the ability of journalists to write freely. In a positive trend, however, the continued spread and influence of pan-Arab satellite television networks has led to greater openness in the media environment throughout the region. Four countries--Algeria, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt--have seen improvements since 2004 and are only one point away from being ranked as Partly Free.
"Improvements in the region have been due to the impact of new media as well as the courage of individual journalists and their editors," said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. "The governments must do their part to implement the necessary reforms to guarantee freedom of expression," she continued.
Each country in the region faces specific challenges to improved press freedom. Algeria's constitution guarantees freedom of expression but the country's repressive laws, which are regularly used to intimidate and in some cases imprison journalists, are evidence that these guarantees are not reflected in practice. The legal harassment of journalists should end to ensure that they are able to exercise their right to freedom of expression.
According to the Moroccan press law, which was amended in 2002, it is illegal to criticize Islam, the king and the royal family, or to publish anything referring to an independent Western Sahara. The Moroccan government should follow through on its pledge to reform the press law and stop imprisoning people for press-related cases. Authorities should allow the judiciary to operate independently, and should end the current court practice of imposing financially crippling punishments on newspapers and other publications in defamation cases.
In Jordan, articles of the penal and press codes restrict criticism of the royal family, the National Assembly, public officials and the armed forces, as well as any speech that might harm Jordan's foreign relations. These laws should be repealed. The 1998 Jordan Press Association (JPA) law should be amended to remove the requirement that journalists be members of the JPA. The JPA's vaguely worded bylaws, including provisions requiring members to practice journalism "within the framework of its moral, national, and patriotic responsibility," and to swear an oath of loyalty to the king, invite abuse. The government should also issue clear directives to security forces not to interfere with newspaper printers.
In Egypt, although journalists cross the "red-lines" that previously circumscribed the press with increasingly regularity, press freedom continues to suffer from repressive laws and extralegal intimidation of journalists. The government should amend the press law to contain positive guarantees to allow journalists to exercise their right to free expression, and should remove the requirement that editors of newspapers of which the government owns a share be vetted by State Security. The Egyptian government should also repeal articles of Egypt's Penal Code, which criminalize criticism of the President of the Republic or the spread of information that may "disturb public security," call for "changing the basic principles of the constitution," or "cause harm and damage to public security."
Related post: Middle East Press Freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its special report of 2006 “10 Most Censored Countries.” The Middle East countries included in the 10 Most Censored Countries list were LIBYA and SYRIA. I really miss Iran; do not you?
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has published a backgrounder on the oppression of the press in the Muslim world. It is actually about the Arab Muslim world.
Here is the press release of the Freedom House:
Press Freedom Must Continue to Improve in the Middle East and North Africa
New York,
April 27, 2006
Despite overall improvements in press freedom in the Middle East and North Africa over the last several years, the region continues to rank the lowest for press freedoms in the world, according to a major study released today by Freedom House. However, there are a number of countries that are close to an upgrade from Not Free to Partly Free status, if a few key reforms are implemented.
Generally, media in the region remain constrained by extremely restrictive legal environments in most countries. Most problematic to media freedom are the laws criminalizing libel and defamation and prohibiting any insult to monarchs and other rulers, as well as emergency legislation that remains in place which hampers the ability of journalists to write freely. In a positive trend, however, the continued spread and influence of pan-Arab satellite television networks has led to greater openness in the media environment throughout the region. Four countries--Algeria, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt--have seen improvements since 2004 and are only one point away from being ranked as Partly Free.
"Improvements in the region have been due to the impact of new media as well as the courage of individual journalists and their editors," said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. "The governments must do their part to implement the necessary reforms to guarantee freedom of expression," she continued.
Each country in the region faces specific challenges to improved press freedom. Algeria's constitution guarantees freedom of expression but the country's repressive laws, which are regularly used to intimidate and in some cases imprison journalists, are evidence that these guarantees are not reflected in practice. The legal harassment of journalists should end to ensure that they are able to exercise their right to freedom of expression.
According to the Moroccan press law, which was amended in 2002, it is illegal to criticize Islam, the king and the royal family, or to publish anything referring to an independent Western Sahara. The Moroccan government should follow through on its pledge to reform the press law and stop imprisoning people for press-related cases. Authorities should allow the judiciary to operate independently, and should end the current court practice of imposing financially crippling punishments on newspapers and other publications in defamation cases.
In Jordan, articles of the penal and press codes restrict criticism of the royal family, the National Assembly, public officials and the armed forces, as well as any speech that might harm Jordan's foreign relations. These laws should be repealed. The 1998 Jordan Press Association (JPA) law should be amended to remove the requirement that journalists be members of the JPA. The JPA's vaguely worded bylaws, including provisions requiring members to practice journalism "within the framework of its moral, national, and patriotic responsibility," and to swear an oath of loyalty to the king, invite abuse. The government should also issue clear directives to security forces not to interfere with newspaper printers.
In Egypt, although journalists cross the "red-lines" that previously circumscribed the press with increasingly regularity, press freedom continues to suffer from repressive laws and extralegal intimidation of journalists. The government should amend the press law to contain positive guarantees to allow journalists to exercise their right to free expression, and should remove the requirement that editors of newspapers of which the government owns a share be vetted by State Security. The Egyptian government should also repeal articles of Egypt's Penal Code, which criminalize criticism of the President of the Republic or the spread of information that may "disturb public security," call for "changing the basic principles of the constitution," or "cause harm and damage to public security."
Related post: Middle East Press Freedom
