We’re Tied With Bosnia. But We Beat…Uruguay!

by tristero

The US is number 36 on the Press Freedom Index. (My pals in Finland have the 5th freest press in the world, btw.)

Joking aside, this is a disgrace. It’s one of the major reasons why the American liberal blogosphere screams bloody murder at the media, of course. Our media is more than lousy (and boy is it ever lousy). It also does not have the freedom to report the news enjoyed by nearly every other democracy of note.

But hey, when it comes to the skinny on Paris Hilton, the US press totally rules. Maybe.

UPDATE: Some detail on the US ranking:

The United States rose twelve places [!] to 36th position. The release of Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj after six years in the Guantanamo Bay military base contributed to this improvement. Although the absence of a federal “shield law” means the confidentiality of sources is still threatened by federal courts, the number of journalists being subpoenaed or forced to reveal their sources has declined in recent months and none has been sent to prison. But the August 2007 murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in Oakland, California, is still unpunished a year later. The way the investigation into his murder has become enmeshed in local conflicts of interest and the lack of federal judicial intervention also help to explain why the United States did not get a higher ranking. Account was also taken of the many arrests of journalists during the Democratic and Republican conventions.