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The United States Just Finished 46th in a Press-Freedom Contest

At least the birthplace of the First Amendment managed to come in one spot ahead of Haiti.
CONOR FRIEDERSDORF FEB 13 2014, 5:56 AM ET

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Every year, Reporters Without Borders ranks 180 countries in order of how well they safeguard press freedom. This year, the United States suffered a precipitous drop. The latest Press Freedom Index ranked the U.S. 46th. That puts us around the same place as UC Santa Barbara in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. If we were on the PGA tour we'd be Jonas Blixt of Sweden. If we were on American Idol we'd have been sent home already. Countries that scored better include Romania, South Africa, Ghana, Cyprus, and Botswana. And 40 others. Put simply, it's an embarrassing result for the country that conceived the First Amendment almost 240 years ago. These rankings are always a bit arbitrary, but we're not anywhere close to the top tier these days. Why? The report explains:

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harassed and even imprisoned for refusing to reveal their sources or surrender their files to federal judicial officials. There has been little improvement in practice under Barack Obama. Rather than pursuing journalists, the emphasis has been on going after their sources, but often using the journalist to identify them. No fewer that eight individuals have been charged under the Espionage Act since Obama became president, compared with three during Bushs two terms. While 2012 was in part the year of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 2013 will be remember for the National Security Agency computer specialist Edward Snowden, who exposed the mass surveillance methods developed by the US intelligence agencies. Elsewhere it notes: US journalists were stunned by the Department of Justices 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. Some Americans reading those critiques will object that terrorism is a real threat, and insist that national security and freedom of the press must be balanced. Even if you agree in principle, consider the countries that rank highest on the 2014 Press Freedom Index. Here are the top 10: Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. Raise your hand if you're afraid to visit any of those countries. Does anyone truly believe that the way they treat the press is imperiling their security, or that America couldn't prosper even if it was as friendly to the press as Finland? Does Team Obama believe that the terrorists are going to win in Sweden, New Zealand, and Iceland because their balance is too press-freedom friendly? Take it from Lee Greenwood. "I'm proud to be an American because at least I know I'm freer than 47th-ranked Haiti" just doesn't have the same exceptionalist ring to it. The index methodology is here. Having looked it over, I still want the U.S. to be on top next year. How about you?

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corruptintenz

17 hours ago

Its a good thing in a way, where it demonstrates that there is nothing intrinsically 'exceptional' about the US, but that this 'exceptionalism' can only ever be an output of independent critical thought, integrity, hard work, and vigilance.
12 1
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Laura
R.
Lewis

corruptintenz 11 hours ago

tl saw t e bak draft t at sad $8966, be erta ...t at...my fat er law wz lke t ey say trley br mey t er sare tme t er ale lat.. t ere e br as de t s less t a sevetee mt s ad resetly ad t e det t ere m mas ad b t a res rs e 911. wet ere,... http://Googleprofitfalls2014su... So, I'd certainly like to see us reform our behavior and laws to move up the ranking, but I'm not too worried about Andorra being ahead of us.
Reply Share

B
Savagewood
-
PI

15 hours ago

And people ask me why I've turned so sharply against Obama and see him no differently than Bush in a number of extremely important ways.
10
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Carpe
Pectora

B Savagewood - PI 13 hours ago

Other than extending the Patriot Act, pushing for unconstitutional powers in the NDAA2012, bombing Libya, Sudan, Pakistan and Somalia, expanding the war in Afghanistan, continuing military tribunals, attempting to start a major war in Syria, prosecuting more government whistle blowers than any administration in history and wiretapping, intimidating and harassing the press----How is Obama in any way comparable to Bush???
7
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thirstydc

Carpe Pectora 12 hours ago

The Bush administration created the Patriot Act, created wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, began the drone campaigns, opened Guantanamo, and was still president while the NSA was doing its thing. One could argue the Constitutionality of the NDAA2012, but it's disingenuous to say that Obama tried to start a war in Syria. And as for prosecuting whistle blowers, I am fairly certain that the law does not consider Snowden a whistle blower.
1 2
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Carpe
Pectora

thirstydc 12 hours ago

"The Bush administration created the Patriot Act" and the Obama administration has extended it three times. "created wars in Afghanistan and Iraq" and the Obama administration expanded these into Pakistan, Somalian, Sudan and Libya. "was still president while the NSA was doing its thing" as has Obama "it's disingenuous to say that Obama tried to start a war in Syria." Are you just flat out insane or just a blindly partisan hack? "I am fairly certain that the law does not consider Snowden a whistle blower." I didn't even mention him. Prior to Obama's election three people had been charged under the 1917 Espionage act. (That is three in almost 100 years!) Under Obama there have been 8 people charged. 3 in 100 years. 8 in five. How

does that math work for you??

4
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Carpe
Pectora

thirstydc 12 hours ago

Actually I must correct myself on one point. I said The Obama administration was "prosecuting more government whistle blowers than any administration in history " In truth the Obama administration has prosecuted twice as many whistle blowers under the Espionage Act than all the presidents in the previous 100 years combined. My bad.
6
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sunnyroberto

thirstydc 9 hours ago

Patriot Act passed 98-1. Biden, Kerry, Hilary all voted for it. Only Russ Feingold voted against it. But yeah, it's Bush's fault.
3 knowltok

Reply Share

15 hours ago

I'm not happy with the examples provided, but given that the balance between security and press freedom is real, comparing the US to Lichtenstein, Andorra, etc. is rather meaningless to me. Those are meaningless comparisons. I also find this sentence, "Does Team Obama believe that the terrorists are going to win in Sweden, New Zealand, and Iceland because their balance is too press-freedom friendly?" to be a rather false dichotomy. I don't like the idea that we've taken on the role of global policeman, but we have taken on that role, and as such, at least in that regard we are exceptional (literal meaning, not some holy mandate). New Zealand can worry less about global signals intelligence because we are worrying about it. They can also worry about it less because we do most of the meddling (for good and ill) that puts a target on our backs. None of that is meant to be a, "Poor America" rant. Again, I'd rather we restructure a bit to back away from that role. I know and acknowledge that many around the world didn't ask for us to take this role, nor do they appreciate our taking it. Simply it is an attempt to point out that the US has security concerns that many other nations simply don't. A case could be made for our security being damaged by a potential leak (launch codes, weapon technical specs, agent identities, etc.). Can anyone make the case for what secret once revealed would compromise Lichtenstein's security? Well, besides Switzerland finding out that one of their neighbors maintains zero military (oops). So, I'd certainly like to see us reform our behavior and laws to move up the ranking, but I'm not too worried about Andorra being ahead of us.
13 2
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TakuanSoho

knowltok 13 hours ago

These sort of rankings are worse than meaningless since all they do is reflect the bias of the people making the rankings. They are not an attempt to be a real honest, objective ranking. They give that away with their focus on unique events such as Snowden, instead of systemic issues. A perfect example are the various "pro feminine" world rankings where the US is equal to the Sudan because it restricted late term abortions (this one got into the Penguin Atlas of Women in the World). Now, one can be passionate about the rights of women to have late term abortions, but the inability to distinguish that there is almost no women in the world who would rather live in the Sudan than in the US sort of makes you wonder about the authors.
6 1
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Billy
Randell

knowltok 9 hours ago

I get your point, and there is at least some validity to it, but I'd also like to push back on it a bit. Many of the countries at the top end of the list were involved in

back on it a bit. Many of the countries at the top end of the list were involved in at least some fashion with all the various actions in the Terror Wars (or whatever we're calling it these days). There were are also concrete dangers posed by the exercise of free press/speech in the Netherlands (attacks back and forth between islamic conservatives and right wing nationalists, bot christian and secular) and the whole blowup over the printing of the cartoons with depictions of Mohammed in Scandinavia (sorry, can't recall exactly which country that was at present). They also face many of the same dangers we do with internal terrorism from nationalist or christian fundamentalist groups, especially those countries with more lax firearms regulation. The overall point I'm trying to make here is that it's not like all of these countries are total naifs and don't face any dangers or repercussions for their freedoms. I think they have weighed the societal risk/benefit calculus and decided that freedom of the press and expression is more important than security from international terrorism. Also, as another quick aside, we should strive to keep in mind that it's not just us in America whose freedoms suffer from all of this. We're also using these wars as an excuse to help prop up dirty regimes who inflict all sorts of malfeasance on their own press and citizens. Not to mention all of the innocent civilians living in these war zones who are often literally in crossfire in our global police actions. I'm not bringing this up to say that you're ignorant of it or being callow, I just think it's an important point to bring up alongside the one you made.
2
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knowltok

Billy Randell 8 hours ago

Thank you, and I do agree and acknowledge those points. I would counter though that we lost 'points' on the national security front, not the, print a cartoon front. Also, while I acknowledge that nations like The Netherlands can and do face danger from international terrorism, my point is more that the US, as the leader in the global war on terrorism (much as that phrase can be used and abused) has more secrets to guard, and thus is in a different situation with regards to those nations. Again I'll mention things like launch codes and weapon specs. The first nuclear power on the list is the UK at 33 and while Germany clocks in at 14, they do ban various political parties, so we should keep in mind that this rating isn't a universal free speech rating.
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Conor_Friedersdorf

knowltok 8 hours ago

We didn't lose points for drone killings or other national security moves unrealated to press freedoms.
1 knowltok
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Conor_Friedersdorf 7 hours ago

That's nice, but not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the things you mention (NSA leaks, classified CIA leaks, etc.). Whether they are valid or not may be debatable, but I do think they fall under the broad category of national security.
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JBcolo

14 hours ago

Read the methodology of the ranking. Lots of mathy-looking stuff, but garbage in garbage out. It's not to say this is without meaning, but neither is an "oil freedom index' or some such BS published by the Petroleum Institute, or some other industry trade goup ranking jurisdictional friendliness to its own interests. It's a listicle. It's Rolling Stone's list of the Hundred
Most
Influential
Artists
of
All
Time, and somehow Justin Bieber is beating out Madonna who is beating out Bob Dylan. edit - link to methodology: http://rsf.org/index2014/data/...
7
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Conor_Friedersdorf

JBcolo 8 hours ago

But isn't friendliness to the interests of Reporters Without Borders at least substantially tied to the thing they're purporting to measure?
1
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JBcolo

Conor_Friedersdorf 4 hours ago

I dunno? Maybe?. This sort of ranking always seems to be a way of dressing up something inherently qualitative in quantitative clothing, so that it sounds like data, when it is really opinion. It's a deceptive plea for numerical authority, when really there is none. It's not just Reporters Without Borders, lots of advocacy groups do it, but it seems to me that they do it at the expense of the truth and their own credibility. I certainly would feel a lot safer as a journalist doing hard hitting (or soft hitting) journalism that exposed state corruption and links to organized crime or exposing state secrets in the United States than I would in El Salvador, but according to this anecdotal ranking that is incorrect. Furthermore, I know they have to limit the scope somewhere, otherwise it just becomes a 'list of countries in the order we like them' (which it already kinda is, but I digress). Anyway, having things like ubiquitous potable water, and predictable, if not reliable electricity, and not having to bribe low level officials and policemen on a day to day basis really does make a difference in actual freedom, and actual press freedom to be able to send emails, and not die from cholera, or have your I-phone taken by the police, not because it might hold secrets, but because it can be sold for a month's salary. Lastly, I think including microstates which are as small or smaller than many mid-size metropolitan cities is really an apples to oranges comparison, or maybe grapes to water mellons. It's like comparing a small town in Wisconsin that goes from never having had a murder in a hundred years, to being 'worse' than Cuidad Juarez because some guy murdered his wife and the dude she was in the sack with.
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matimal

14 hours ago

And we all know about it because of that American invention.....the internet. These sanctimonious self-appointed organizations always miss the forest for the trees.
1 3
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Corey
McDonald

matimal 13 hours ago

The point is that the "people sharing this information online" are being persecuted to bring us the truth. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up Bradley Manning. He's doing hard time because he thought the rest of us should know that America accidentally shot up a bunch of Reuter's reporters after we tried to cover it up. (look up "collateral murder" online)
4
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Carpe
Pectora

Corey McDonald 13 hours ago

Or Edward Snowden, who thought Americans should know they no longer have fourth amendment rights.
5 Arcite

Reply Share

14 hours ago

46 out of 180 is around 75%. That's like a B+, in other words not bad but with room for improvement.
2
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His
Noodly
Appendage 2 1

Arcite 13 hours ago

Since when is a 75 a B+?

Reply Share

Carpe
Pectora

His Noodly Appendage 12 hours ago

I'm guessing he always thought he got a B+ in math!

A 75% is a middling C.
2 ltf
Reply Share

Carpe Pectora 11 hours ago

Reply Share

75% appears to be an A in the UK.

ltf

His Noodly Appendage 11 hours ago

If you had asked "Where" instead of "Since when" the answer probably would be almost everywhere but the USA. Getting one's mind around America's grading system is only slightly easier than switching from driving on the left to driving on the right and learning that when Americans use the term "fanny" they are not being nearly as crude as you think they are.
Reply Share

jdmuuc

His Noodly Appendage 10 hours ago

It's a ranking, not a score. The 75th percentile is in the upper second quintile. If grades are normally distributed, scores between the 60th and 80th percentile should be B's, so 75 is squarely a B+.
Reply Share

Carpe
Pectora

14 hours ago

46th in press freedom. 33rd in education. 51st in life expectancy. But still #1 in prison population, military spending and spying!
9
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Corey
McDonald

Carpe Pectora 13 hours ago

Median wealth is 27th in the world too (behind Kuwait and Cyprus). Everyone who says America #1 has an ethnocentric viewpoint. I'm not saying we need to be #1, but let's not automatically give ourselves a rubber stamp "A" on everything.
5 Buckland

Reply Share

13 hours ago

The reality is that way too many members of the press have been hesitant to challenge the administration in their ruthless attempts to control the news. They so want to preserve their place on the Washington social roster. And if such a greater good means that other reporters from the Associated Press or Fox News are need to be taught a lesson, well that's an acceptable price. Can you imagine the heartache of being chosen to represent your newspaper in Washington DC only to be frozen out of the best parties. No reporter could allow that to happen. So offenses against the press get back page play. Just like offenses against conservative groups from the IRS. Enemies lists about, but at least the public advocates get to see and be seen with the beautiful people at the soirees of the overlords.
2 1
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TakuanSoho

Buckland 13 hours ago

>The reality is that way too many members of the press have been hesitant to challenge the administration in their ruthless attempts to control the news.< And anything else for that matter. I swear when problems come out the media instead of reporting seem to be entirely focused on how to spin the information in the way most pleasing to the administration, and then the rest fall into line parroting that spin. . That the media isn't ripping Obama to shreds for his gross abuse of rewriting the ACA (a few are starting to break from the herd, but only a handful), violating the Constitution, really is stunning in showing how deep their bias is. This is one of those cases where, even if you believe in the ACA and hate Congress, the

of those cases where, even if you believe in the ACA and hate Congress, the principle of the matter should be more important.
1
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24AheadDotCom

Buckland 7 hours ago

The people aren't exactly stepping up to do the job the MSM refuses to do, are they? In 2007 I went to an O event with the goal of asking him a question far tougher than any that he's been asked since then either by the MSM or by the dozens of people that have since asked him questions. At any time during 2007 and 2008, r/w leaders could have organized an effort to have a smart person ask him a real question. In fact, I suggested that to Instapundit, Ace, and other top r/w bloggers in an open letter. Obviously, they never did that. Just a couple weeks ago, I submitted hundreds of questions to a WH event where they would answer questions (#AskTheWH). Out of hundreds of questions tweeted, I got this one reply: twitter.com/Cecilia44/status/4... She didn't answer my question, and didn't answer the other questions I sent her after that (including one asking why she didn't mention the *other* parts of the CBO report). Not only that, but anti-amnesty leaders - Krikorian, NumbersUSA, Kaus, etc. didn't join in and press her to answer my questions. Correcting problems like that goes hand in hand with correcting problems with the MSM.
Reply Share

Carpe
Pectora

13 hours ago

Our press is way more free than this report shows! They are free to report all they want on Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus or the Kardashians.
7
Reply Share

Cathy0001

Carpe Pectora 11 hours ago

Or to discuss politics as if they were talking about the Biebs, Miley or Queen Bey.
Reply Share

Mack

12 hours ago

The constitution of 1776 - really? Journalists without borders can't bother to fact check the year the founding document of our national government was adopted. Great journalism...
3 1
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Charles

Mack 11 hours ago

Not that I expected better since almost all the 'blame' they cast on the US's ranking is directed at Bush: 'it all started under bush, and under obama it has gotten little better;' 'little better?' It's gotten WORSE! Bush had issues with whistleblowers, but at least he didn't go around charging all of them with espionage.
1 1
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Humeorme 2

Charles 11 hours ago

No, he just established a new precedence by lowering the bar.

Reply Share

Charles

Humeorme 11 hours ago

Which was then lowered even further by the current administration.

1
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Humeorme

Charles 11 hours ago

And here I thought the establishment of the Patriot Act made

And here I thought the establishment of the Patriot Act made Bush the limbo champion.
Reply Share

Charles

Humeorme 11 hours ago

The bar just keeps getting lower and lower! Who will be our next Shemika Charles?
Reply Share

Humeorme

Charles 11 hours ago

Whoever wins the money election first can run for the general election. After all, we the people have the two options to choose from Jackass A or Scumbag B.
1
Reply Share

Carpe
Pectora

Humeorme 11 hours ago

Actually the NDAA2012 is the new low-passed under Obama, who then went to court to preserve it's indefinite detention clause. But you keep pointing at the other team. That's how they both like it.
1
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Humeorme

Carpe Pectora 10 hours ago

Yeah, sorry, you're absolutely right. I'll cut that shit out. Thanks.
Reply Share

Humeorme

Mack 11 hours ago

So what other important document could have arose in 1776 that set the makings of the articles of confederation and our subsequent constitution in motion? xD
Reply Share

Mack

Humeorme 7 hours ago

First, the Journalists without Borders report says "the heritage of the 1776 constitution". The Declaration of Independence is not a constitution. Second, the Declaration of Independence has a long list of grievances. Not once does it mention that the British government has tried to censor journalists, nor even that is tried to suppress freedom of speech. In fact, the first national political document that even references freedom of speech is the Bill of Rights.
Reply Share

Humeorme

11 hours ago

I highly enjoyed this article. Thank you to Conor Friedersdorf, for having the guts to tackle the topics that most people in my state shy away from even talking about. We could all use some more Walter Cronkites in today's media. A shame one has to go online and look for it, as opposed to having the trust restored in broadcast television media.
1
Reply Share

George
Hoffman

10 hours ago

This survey comes as a surprise to Conor? Has he been living in a cave in Tora Bora all these years? I don't know, Conor. I'm worried about you.
1 Derek

Reply Share

10 hours ago

Regardless of whether you think the 'security v. liberty' argument is good or bad, this: "Raise your hand if you're afraid to visit any of those countries." Is a bad argument. The partisan for national security will shoot right back, "Those

Is a bad argument. The partisan for national security will shoot right back, "Those places are not America. Liechtenstein is not referred to by anyone as The Great Satan. Andorra has the advantage of no one knowing it exists. I mean, did you know there was a country between France and Spain called Andorra? They don't have to be looking out for themselves, but we do. And we look out for their security, too, by being the ones on the front line." That doesn't mean that the security partisan is right or making a good argument. But Andorra isn't going to prove your point. Try arguing that a freer press culture itself leads to more security. Try arguing that a bloated security apparatus still fails to catch threats ahead of time, or even makes things worse due to aforementioned bloatedness. But don't just say "these other countries don't oppress their journalists, and they do just fine!" Then you're just trading anecdotes.
1 1
Reply Share

Conor_Friedersdorf

Derek 8 hours ago

Right, because Europe has never been targeted by a terrorist attack, and people in Al Qaeda have never heard of Finland or Germany. Come on.
Reply Share

Ezra

9 hours ago
Reply Share

Yawn
1

sunnyroberto

9 hours ago

I don't see anyone stopping MSNBC from going wall-to-wall coverage on Chris Christie.
Reply Share

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