We're #44! We're #44!

[LynnTheDem]

El Salvador is #28.

N° Country Score
1 Denmark 0,50
- Finland 0,50
- Iceland 0,50
- Ireland 0,50
- Netherlands 0,50
- Norway 0,50
- Switzerland 0,50
8 Slovakia 0,75
9 Czech Republic 1,00
- Slovenia 1,00
11 Estonia 1,50
12 Hungary 2,00
- New Zealand 2,00
- Sweden 2,00
- Trinidad and Tobago 2,00
16 Austria 2,50
- Latvia 2,50
18 Belgium 4,00
- Germany 4,00
- Greece 4,00
21 Canada 4,50
- Lithuania 4,50
23 Portugal 4,83
24 United Kingdom 5,17
25 Benin 5,50
- Cyprus 5,50
- Namibia 5,50
28 El Salvador 5,75
29 Cape Verde 6,00
30 France 6,25
31 Australia 6,50
- South Africa 6,50
33 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7,00
34 Jamaica 7,50
- Mauritius 7,50
- South Korea 7,50
37 Japan 8,00
- Mali 8,00
39 Hong-Kong 8,25
40 Spain 8,33
41 Costa Rica 8,50
42 Italy 8,67
43 Macedonia 8,75
44 United States of America 9,50
45 Bolivia 9,67
46 Uruguay 9,75
47 Israel 10,00
48 Bulgaria 10,25
49 Mozambique 10,50
50 Chile 11,75
51 Dominican Republic 12,25
- Taiwan 12,25
53 Cyprus (North) 12,50
- Mongolia 12,50
- Poland 12,50
56 Croatia 12,83
57 Niger 13,00
58 Timor-Leste 13,50
59 Argentina 13,67
60 Botswana 14,00
- Fiji 14,00
62 Albania 14,17
63 Brazil 14,50
- Tonga 14,50
65 Serbia and Montenegro 14,83
66 Ghana 15,00
- Panama 15,00
68 Nicaragua 15,25
69 Paraguay 15,50
70 Romania 16,17
71 Congo 17,00
- Guinea-Bissau 17,00
- Seychelles 17,00
74 Moldova 17,50
- Tanzania 17,50
76 Angola 18,00
- Honduras 18,00
78 Burkina Faso 19,00
- Senegal 19,00
80 Uganda 19,25
81 Lesotho 19,50
82 Central African Republic 19,75
83 Cameroon 20,50
- Liberia 20,50
85 Kuwait 21,25
86 Guatemala 21,50
87 Ecuador 21,75
88 Comoros 22,00
89 Malawi 22,75
90 Burundi 23,00
- Cambodia 23,00
- Qatar 23,00
- Venezuela 23,00
- Zambia 23,00
95 Togo 23,75
96 Jordan 24,00
97 Madagascar 24,50
98 Turkey 25,00
99 Georgia 25,17
100 Kosovo 25,75
- United Arab Emirates 25,75
102 Armenia 26,00
- Gabon 26,00
- Guinea 26,00
- Indonesia 26,00
106 India 27,00
107 Thailand 28,00
108 Lebanon 28,25
109 Chad 30,00
- Kenya 30,00
111 Kyrgyzstan 32,00
112 Ukraine 32,50
113 Malaysia 33,00
- Tajikistan 33,00
115 Sri Lanka 33,25
116 Peru 33,33
117 Haiti 33,50
118 Swaziland 35,00
119 Kazakhstan 36,17
- Morocco 36,17
121 Djibouti 37,00
122 Rwanda 38,00
123 Bahrein 38,75
- Nigeria 38,75
125 Afghanistan 39,17
126 Sierra Leone 39,50
127 Mauritania 40,00
128 Colombia 40,17
129 Algeria 40,33
130 Gambia 41,00
131 Ethiopia 42,00
132 Palestinian Authority 42,50
133 Equatorial Guinea 44,00
- Sudan 44,00
135 Mexico 45,50
136 Yemen 46,25
137 United States of America (in Iraq) 48,50
138 Russia 48,67
139 Philippines 50,00
140 Singapore 50,67
141 Azerbaijan 51,00
142 Bhutan 51,50
143 Egypt 52,00
144 Côte d’Ivoire 52,25
145 Syria 55,00
146 Democratic Republic of Congo 57,33
147 Tunisia 57,50
148 Maldives 58,50
149 Somalia 59,00
150 Pakistan 60,75
151 Bangladesh 61,25
152 Belarus 61,33
153 Zimbabwe 64,25
154 Saudi Arabia 66,00
155 Laos 66,50
- Uzbekistan 66,50
157 Iraq 67,00
158 Vietnam 73,25
159 China 83,00
160 Nepal 86,75
161 Cuba 87,00
162 Libya 88,75
163 Burma 88,83
164 Iran 89,17
165 Turkmenistan 93,50
166 Eritrea 99,75
167 North Korea 109,0

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554

US Falls in World Press Freedom Ranking
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102001987.html

THINK about it, MFing rightwingnuts.

[Skidmore]

1. Wow, #40 is something to aspire to.

[InsultComicDog]

35. Denmark sounds good

I visited as a child in 1970, always wanted to go back to Copenhagen

[blm]

2. Weren't we in 16th place when Bush took office in 2001?

.

[dogday]

6. That would be a good fact to check on... eom

[DemonGoddess]

12. from one of the above links

2002 - 17 (tied with Switzerland)
2003 - 31 (tied with Greece)
2004 - 22 (tied with Belgium)

[sable302]

3. behind Czech Republic

and Hong Kong for god's sake

[CalebHayes]

33. I love the Czech Republic. Have you been there recently?

It is a very cool place.

[laruemtt]

4. they hate us for our freedoms

but evidently not our free press............

[helderheid]

5. :(

- Netherlands 0,50

I miss Dutch tv

[BuyingThyme]

7. Tonight we declare war on Bolivia.

[davidinalameda]

8. don't give them any ideas

:scared:

[smartvoter]

9. We're 137, too! Go team!!! nt

[sundancekid]

10. and we TRAIL the "coalition of the bribed, er... willing" folks too! wow

OK ... to be fair: bushevik mantra had a typo in it::

"they hate our freedoms" NOT they hate us 4 our freedoms ... K? k.

[katinmn]

11. Wow! The poodle press must be proud!

Hear that NYT? You're just a bush propaganda tool.

[w13rd0]

13. Wow...

...and that "freedom" we're spreading...Iraq just barely nudges out communist vietnam and china. And just lookie where our "allies" in the "War on Terror" fall...gee, that's special...

[leftchick]

14. USA Sucks!

who knew? :shrug:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. I can't believe we're less free than you.

I demand a recount! :mad:

[bleever]

16. Three cheers for New Zealand, Scoop, and althecat.

:applause:

[kerry-is-my-prez]

17. I love to bring this up when Repubs say "We've got the freest press"

Which they think, of course....

[SlipperySlope]

18. This is JUDITH MILLER's fault

The US fell so far because Judith Miller was imprisoned. You can't score high if you put reporters in jail.

[eggman67]

22. Which makes this a bit hypocritical doesn't it?

I don't recall too many here supporting her right to keep her pie-hole shut.

Not directed at you, just my sense of what the prevailing opinion here was.

[SlipperySlope]

23. That's why I got a chuckle out of it...

I just thought it was so ironic.

[eggman67]

24. Oh, I get ya now

I thought it was just me :)

[Hissyspit]

29. Well, you could make a strong argument she wasn't really a reporter. n/t

[Cults4Bush]

30. She was not a reporter and many of her colleagues would agree... she

is at best a fraud and maybe quite worse.

[Buck Rabbit]

32. She's a reporter? Nah, you're just playin' with me! .../nt

[Nordmadr]

19. Well, you know I hate to make a big thing about this and all, but, well,

isn't Hong Kong, you know, like owned by uhhh...f*cking CHINA!!!???? Now I know they've got it a bit different there, but come on!!! There it is, 5 spots ahead of us.

How nice.

F*ck.
Olafr

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Damn those Macedonians!! Always making us look bad!

We'll get 'em next year.

[KamaAina]

21. Suck it, Bolivia! USA rules!!!

oh crap, they just got a new progressive leader...

Suck it, Uruguay! USA rules!!!

[The Revolution]

25. I should visit Denmark some time.

I've been carrying a Danish flag on my key chain for years, and I've been looking for something to do with my vacation time. :)

[Hissyspit]

26. Wow, that boggles the mind and turns the stomach, Lynn.

I had not seen that. Thanks.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. Is there an explanation on the site

of what the scores indicate? I couldn't find one.

[Loge23]

28. U-S-A, U-S-A!!

LOCKED-AWAY! LOCKED-AWAY!
The new Cro-Magnin chant for this years Olympics!

[Miss Chybil]

31. How do they determine this? What's the criteira?

I'm not surprised we are 44, but I'm wondering what is specifically, factually and measurably different than when we were 17. Have we ever been number 1? Why is Denmark number 1? Is there some type of interview with reporters? If there is an interview and there are factual refernces that say specifically, "The U.S. does not have a free press." Then we should have something to fight with - to take to court. Of course, it wouldn't matter, if nobody ever heard about it. Sort of like the tree falling in the woods. But, if our press is provably not free, (provably being the operative word), then our rights under the constitution are being violated. "No shit," you say? "No shit," I say. We all KNOW our press is not "free" and is being manipulated for political and monetary purposes, but if this study is based on provable fact, then someone should be able to sue.

[mwooldri]

37. Read the link, it'll tell you from there...

Basically they're scoring how free it is to report and state something. If you take Denmark, there aren't any minor skirmishes going on, the political situation is free and open, and there is no regulation against free speech. The UK is lower than what it could be thanks to the paramilitaries that are still in force in Northern Ireland - if these mafioso guys were to disband and "go away" the UK score would get better.

The main reason why the USA score was reduced so was mainly down to Judith Miller being placed in jail for refusing to reveal her sources. All it took was that one act and that took it down.

Even more interesting is how RSF score the USA and Israel. Two ratings are given - one for "domestic" and one for "occupied territory". For the USA this means being in Iraq.

For 2005, we were rated in Iraq for press freedom as being in 137th place - about as free as Russia, Yemen and Mexico. North Korea is in last place in 167th, as it always has been since the survey started in 2002. I can understand why the US score is low - embedded military journalists probably can't say much to ensure the security of operations. However, even though Iraq is supposedly liberated, the press freedom score in Iraq is lower than the US in Iraq - most likely down to the security sitation (well 67 journalists (give or take a few sorry don't have right exact # right now) have died since the war started).

[Straight Shooter]

34. Fweeper's new bumper sticker: PROUD TO BE #44

With the obligatory wavy little U.S.A. "thou shalt not burn it upon penalty of death" flag.

[politicat]

36. The countries we've been considering are all in the top 15....

Hmmm.

[FreedomAngel82]

38. And we're the one's "spreading democracy"?

Ha! Fucking joke. We don't even have it. If we did President Kerry would have been giving his speech last night.