Press freedom suffers in US, flourishes in Europe

European countries lead the world in providing press freedoms to media, while the US has lost ground due mainly to the jailing earlier this year of a New York Times reporter, an international media advocacy group said in an annual report.

North Korea retained the last spot on the 167-country World Press Freedom Index for this year published yesterday by Reporters Without Borders. Among the other "black holes" for media are Eritrea (166th) and Turkmenistan (165th), the group said in an advance statement.

Iraq was 157th on the list, which said the safety of journalists became even more precarious this year than the year before. A total of 72 media workers have been killed since the US-led fighting began in March 2003, with at least 24 journalists and their assistants killed this year.

The US dropped more than 20 spots to 44th place, mainly due to the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and judicial action that was "undermining the privacy of journalistic sources," the statement said.

Miller spent 85 days in jail for initially refusing to reveal the source who disclosed the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. She was released this month after agreeing to testify before a grand jury.

The top 10 countries on the list are European, led by Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands, where "robust press freedom is alive and well."

Other Western democracies slipped in the index, including Canada (21) for decisions that turned some journalists into "court auxiliaries" and France (30) after court-ordered searches of media offices and interrogations of journalists, the group said.

Press freedom deteriorated in Mexico (135th), where two journalists were murdered and a third disappeared this year, and Cuba (161st), where two journalists were jailed in this year in addition to the 21 who have been held since a March 2003 crackdown, the group said.

In Haiti (117th), journalists still face "high-risk working conditions," that include threats and murder, despite greater press freedoms since the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the group said.

A growing number of African and Latin American countries have earned higher rankings in the index, including Benin (25th) and El Salvador (28th), a still-fragile democracy after years of civil war.

Argentina rose to 59th place "because there were fewer physical attacks on journalists" and laws limiting press freedoms were relaxed, the group said.