South Africa ranks highly on Press Freedom list
South Africa has been ranked 26th in Press Freedom among 139 countries measured by Reporters Without Borders. Joint first were four countries: Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands. The USA ranked 17th.
Eritrea (132nd) and Zimbabwe (122nd) are the most repressive countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Canada did well at fifth but the USA was only 17th, largely because of arrests of journalists crossing police lines.
Africa's Benin is in 21st place despite being classified by the UN Development Programme as one of the world's 15 poorest countries. Other African states considered to have genuine press freedom include South Africa, Mali (43rd), Namibia (31st) and Senegal (47th).
South Africa's ranking was today welcomed by the Press Freedom committee of Print Media South Africa. Chairman Peter Sullivan said it would be great to be top of the list, but being in the top 20 percent showed that the country could be proud of its current press freedom record. He adds however that we need to remain ever vigilant. "We beat Italy and South Korea which are among the world's most developed countries, and the US only beat us by a few places. Europe did brilliantly while Africa suffered a bit so I think our priority must be to focus on this continent within the Nepad initiative."
The full list is:
| Ranking | Country | Score |
| 1 | Finland | 0,50 |
| - | Iceland | 0,50 |
| - | Norway | 0,50 |
| - | Netherlands | 0,50 |
| 5 | Canada | 0,75 |
| 6 | Ireland | 1,00 |
| 7 | Germany | 1,50 |
| - | Portugal | 1,50 |
| - | Sweden | 1,50 |
| 10 | Denmark | 3,00 |
| 11 | France | 3,25 |
| 12 | Australia | 3,50 |
| - | Belgium | 3,50 |
| 14 | Slovenia | 4,00 |
| 15 | Costa Rica | 4,25 |
| - | Switzerland | 4,25 |
| 17 | United States | 4,75 |
| 18 | Hong Kong | 4,83 |
| 19 | Greece | 5,00 |
| 20 | Ecuador | 5,50 |
| 21 | Benin | 6,00 |
| - | United Kingdom | 6,00 |
| - | Uruguay | 6,00 |
| 24 | Chile | 6,50 |
| - | Hungary | 6,50 |
| 26 | South Africa | 7,50 |
| - | Austria | 7,50 |
| - | Japan | 7,50 |
| 29 | Spain | 7,75 |
| - | Poland | 7,75 |
| 31 | Namibia | 8,00 |
| 32 | Paraguay | 8,50 |
| 33 | Croatia | 8,75 |
| - | El Salvador | 8,75 |
| 35 | Taiwan | 9,00 |
| 36 | Mauritius | 9,50 |
| - | Peru | 9,50 |
| 38 | Bulgaria | 9,75 |
| 39 | South Korea | 10,50 |
| 40 | Italy | 11,00 |
| 41 | Czech Republic | 11,25 |
| 42 | Argentina | 12,00 |
| 43 | Bosnia and Herzegovia | 12,50 |
| - | Mali | 12,50 |
| 45 | Romania | 13,25 |
| 46 | Cape Verde | 13,75 |
| 47 | Senegal | 14,00 |
| 48 | Bolivia | 14,50 |
| 49 | Nigeria | 15,50 |
| - | Panama | 15,50 |
| 51 | Sri Lanka | 15,75 |
| 52 | Uganda | 17,00 |
| 53 | Niger | 18,50 |
| 54 | Brazil | 18,75 |
| 55 | Ivory Coast | 19,00 |
| 56 | Lebanon | 19,67 |
| 57 | Indonesia | 20,00 |
| 58 | Comoros | 20,50 |
| - | Gabon | 20,50 |
| 60 | Yugoslavia | 20,75 |
| - | Seychelles | 20,75 |
| 62 | Tanzania | 21,25 |
| 63 | Central African Republic | 21,50 |
| 64 | Gambia | 22,50 |
| 65 | Madagascar | 22,75 |
| - | Thailand | 22,75 |
| 67 | Bahrain | 23,00 |
| - | Ghana | 23,00 |
| 69 | Congo | 23,17 |
| 70 | Mozambique | 23,50 |
| 71 | Cambodia | 24,25 |
| 72 | Burundi | 24,50 |
| - | Mongolia | 24,50 |
| - | Sierra Leone | 24,50 |
| 75 | Kenya | 24,75 |
| - | Mexico | 24,75 |
| 77 | Venezuela | 25,00 |
| 78 | Kuwait | 25,50 |
| 79 | Guinea | 26,00 |
| 80 | India | 26,50 |
| 81 | Zambia | 26,75 |
| 82 | Palestinian National Authority | 27,00 |
| 83 | Guatemala | 27,25 |
| 84 | Malawi | 27,67 |
| 85 | Burkina Faso | 27,75 |
| 86 | Tajikistan | 28,25 |
| 87 | Chad | 28,75 |
| 88 | Cameroon | 28,83 |
| 89 | Morocco | 29,00 |
| - | Philippines | 29,00 |
| - | Swaziland | 29,00 |
| 92 | Israel | 30,00 |
| 93 | Angola | 30,17 |
| 94 | Guinea-Bissau | 30,25 |
| 95 | Algeria | 31,00 |
| 96 | Djibouti | 31,25 |
| 97 | Togo | 31,50 |
| 98 | Kyrgyzstan | 31,75 |
| 99 | Jordan | 33,50 |
| - | Turkey | 33,50 |
| 101 | Azerbaijan | 34,50 |
| - | Egypt | 34,50 |
| 103 | Yemen | 34,75 |
| 104 | Afghanistan | 35,50 |
| 105 | Sudan | 36,00 |
| 106 | Haiti | 36,50 |
| 107 | Ethiopia | 37,50 |
| - | Rwanda | 37,50 |
| 109 | Liberia | 37,75 |
| 110 | Malaysia | 37,83 |
| 111 | Brunei | 38,00 |
| 112 | Ukraine | 40,00 |
| 113 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 40,75 |
| 114 | Colombia | 40,83 |
| 115 | Mauritania | 41,33 |
| 116 | Kazakhstan | 42,00 |
| 117 | Equatorial Guinea | 42,75 |
| 118 | Bangladesh | 43,75 |
| 119 | Pakistan | 44,67 |
| 120 | Uzbekistan | 45,00 |
| 121 | Russia | 48,00 |
| 122 | Iran | 48,25 |
| - | Zimbabwe | 48,25 |
| 124 | Belarus | 52,17 |
| 125 | Saudi Arabia | 62,50 |
| 126 | Syria | 62,83 |
| 127 | Nepal | 63,00 |
| 128 | Tunisia | 67,75 |
| 129 | Lybia | 72,50 |
| 130 | Irak | 79,00 |
| 131 | Viet Nam | 81,25 |
| 132 | Eritrea | 83,67 |
| 133 | Laos | 89,00 |
| 134 | Cuba | 90,25 |
| 135 | Bhutan | 90,75 |
| 136 | Turkmenistan | 91,50 |
| 137 | Burma | 96,83 |
| 138 | China | 97,00 |
| 139 | North Korea | 97,50 |
HOW THE INDEX WAS DRAWN UP:
--
Peter Sullivan
Group Editor-in-Chief, Independent Newspapers and Chairman of the Print Media SA Media Freedom Committee
