Image from the Index courtesy of Reporters Sans Frontières.

The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders / RSF) published their latest edition of their Press Freedom Index.  The Index measures the quality and status of journalism in the world.

Statistics include the degree of independence that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the extent to which authorities in their respective countries  respect, ensure, or violate this independence, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.

The 175 countries ranked are those for which RSF received completed questionnaires from a number of independent sources. Some countries were not included because of a lack of reliable, confirmed data.

neweurasia presents a brief review of the Index as it relates to the journalists of Central Asia and the situation they face in their everyday professional lives.

First, because accusations of bias are very common in dictatorships, the RSF explains their methdology:

To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders prepared a questionnaire with 40 criteria that assess the state of press freedom in each country. It includes every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). And it includes the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these press freedom violations…

The questionnaire was sent to Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisations (15 freedom of expression groups in all five continents), to its network of 130 correspondents around the world, and to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. A scale devised by the organisation was then used to give a countryscore to each questionnaire.

The 175 countries ranked are those for which Reporters Without Borders received completed questionnaires from a number of independent sources.

As we can see research methods are more than fair and couldn’t be blamed in favoring to one countries and criticizing others.  To see the questionnaire for yourself, click here.

The numbers say it all

Kazakhstan, which was ranked 125th in 2008, this year drop down to the 142th. This means that Central Asia’s richest and largest economy has been trailing behind the region’s poorest and smallest economy, Tajikistan, who ranked 113th this year and 106th last year, not to mention Kyrgyzstan, which ranked 125th this year and 112th in 2008.

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as usual (no surprise here), proudly hold the status of most repressive countries of the region.  Indeed, they outperform their fellow post-Soviet republics in terms of oppression.  Turkmenistan has dropped from 171st last year to 173rd this year, while Uzbekistan, although rising by a bit, is nevertheless a terrible place for journalism.  Consider the case of five journalists who have been sentenced to 5-12 years of imprisonment for their professional activities. Turkmenistan has lost 2 positions from 171st in 2008 to 173rd this year.

To compare, Uzbekistan is surrounded on the Index by Rwanda (157), Equatorial Guinea (158), Pakistan (159) and Palestinian Territories (161), while Turkmenistan is surrounded by Iran (172), North Korea (174) and Eritrea (175, the worst result).   Also, consider the June 3 2009 report  “Worst of the Worst. The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2009″ by Freedom House, which listed Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as, indeed, the titular worst of the worst.

Journalists in these countries [i.e., those on the Index] are subjects to censorship and suffer from tyranny and violence,” Uznews.net reports from an RSF press release.

In my opinion, hopes of dialogue on the part of the EU with these governments to change the media situation in the region simply doesn’t make sense.  Moreover, there is a risk that talks about freedom of speech within the framework of cooperation with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the EU will inevitably be downgraded in priority as European leaders seek greater cooperation with Ashgabat and Tashkent in the energy sector.

For more information

For more information on Central Asian states media situation by Reporters Sans Frontières choose appropriate: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan