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         Report: World Press Freedom Decline Linked to Political Unrest

   A leading U.S.-based human rights group says the number of people
   living in societies with a fully free press has fallen to its lowest
   level in more than a decade.
   In a report issued Wednesday, Freedom House pinned the overall downturn
   to dramatic new media restrictions in the war-torn West African nation
   of Mali, as well as new regulations in Greece and parts of Latin
   America.
   The report, Freedom of the Press 2013, says analysts continue to see
   "heightened efforts" by authoritarian governments across the globe to
   put a "stranglehold" on open political dialogue. It links those
   crackdown efforts to an authoritarian backlash against the 2011 "Arab
   Spring" uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
   The Freedom House document also cites growing pressure on citizen
   journalists using "unorthodox" social media tools, including
   microblogs, social networks and mobile telephones. It says repressive
   measures employed by authoritarian governments include the jailing of
   bloggers and the blocking of web-based content and text messaging
   services during periods of political unrest.
   The report singles out China and Russia for using "a variety of
   techniques" to maintain tight media controls, and says those techniques
   include the jailing of critics and the forced closure of websites.
   It listed the world`s eight worst-rated countries as Belarus, Cuba,
   Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan and
   Uzbekistan.
   Western Europe was cited for the highest level of press freedom
   worldwide, even as the report noted the region`s average rating
   underwent an "unprecedented" decline in 2012. The decline was
   attributed to deteriorating press conditions in Greece and Spain, and
   to what Freedom House said is Turkey`s high number of imprisoned
   journalists.
   The United States was labeled "one of the stronger [media] performers"
   in the Americas, while the report criticized the "limited willingness"
   of high-level U.S. officials to provide access and information to
   journalists.
   Burma was cited as having made the greatest progress of any nation in
   opening up its media environment.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/report-world-press-freedom-decline-li
   nked-to-political-unrest/1652733.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/report-world-press-freedom-decline-linked-to-political-unrest/1652733.html