Restrictions on RP press freedom intensify

WASHINGTON – Press freedom in the Philippines declined again last year due to increased attacks on journalists, problems with judicial independence in media-related cases and a climate of increased impunity, Freedom House said.

Press freedom has been on the decline in the Philippines over the past five years, particularly in 2009 where at least 30 journalists were killed in a politically motivated ambush in the southern province of Maguindanao, it said in a report released on Thursday. 

The report, Freedom of the Press 2010: A Global Survey of Media Independence, said of 196 countries examined in 2009 the Philippines was ranked in 97th place with a score of 48 points, three points lower than the previous year when the country was ranked in 96th place. 

Released in advance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the report shows that global media freedom has declined for the eighth straight year with losses outnumbering gains by a two-to-one margin.

The findings show that in 2009 only one in six people lived in a country with a free press, a slight decline worldwide compared to the previous year. 

Physical harassment and the level of violence directed at the press by government and non-state actors remain a key concern in a number of countries including the Philippines, the report said. 

Apart from the direct impact on individual journalists, these attacks have a chilling effect on the profession as a whole, adding to the existing problem of self-censorship, it said.  

Of the 196 countries examined 69 were rated free and 64 including the Philippines were rated partly free. The rest were rated not free.

Freedom House assigns a numerical ranking to each country based on the legal environment in which media outlets operate, political influences on reporting and access to information and economic pressures on content and the dissemination of news. 

Each country in the rankings receives a score from 0 (the most free) to 100 (the least free) which serves as the basis for an overall press freedom designation of free, partly free, or not free. 

Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shared the No. 1 ranking in the latest survey with a score of 10 points each while North Korea was at the bottom of the ranking in 196th spot with a score of 98 points. 

Not one of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was deemed to have a free press. 

Three – the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand – were rated partly free while the rest - Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar – were rated not free.

“Freedom of expression is fundamental to all other freedoms. Rule of law, fair elections, minority rights, freedom of association, and accountable government all depend on an independent press which can fulfill its watchdog function,” said Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor.

“This is why these findings are so utterly disturbing. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guards torture a journalist, or communist authorities in China imprison a blogger, or criminal elements in Russia assassinate yet another investigative reporter, it sends a clear message that every person fighting for basic rights is vulnerable to a similar fate,” she added.

Freedom House is a Washington-based independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of print, broadcast and Internet freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

It also mentioned the globalization of censorship by countries such as China and international bodies like the Organization of the Islamic Conference as a further threat to the freedom of expression, as well the increasingly worrisome phenomenon of “libel tourism” centered on the United Kingdom. – With Pia Lee-Brago in Manila