MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Who has a free press and who hasn't

North Korea is the worst violator of press freedom in the world while journalists in Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands enjoy the most liberty, according to a new index released this week by “Reporters Without Borders”.

Russia came in at No. 147, and the United States at No. 53 ? a spot it shared with Croatia, Botswana and Tonga.

Argentina was in 76th place, just below Brazil and just ahead of Mauritania, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates.

The Paris-based media advocacy group relied on its network of 130 correspondents, plus journalists, legal experts and human rights activists, to come up with the ranking. The worst offenders, in order, were North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, Cuba, Burma, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

??Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom, and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed,'' the organization said.

In the country at the bottom of the list, ??the all-powerful North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, also continues to totally control the media,'' the group said.

In the index's first year, 2002, the United States was in 17th place and has steadily declined since then.

??Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security' to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his ?war on terrorism,''' the report said.

US press freedom is slipping even when terrorism is not at stake, the report said, citing the case of Joshua Wolf, a freelance video journalist jailed after he refused to turn over footage of a political protest to a grand jury.

France fell back five places to No. 35, which it shared with Australia, Bulgaria and Mali, and Japan dropped 14 places to No. 51.

Bolivia and Bosnia, meanwhile, moved into the top 20. Bolivia shared 16th place with Austria and Canada, while Bosnia was in 19th place with Denmark, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago. Buenos Aires Herald