Study: Viet Nam one of worst in press freedom

NGUOI VIET 2

Reporters Without Borders has just published its 2011 rankings of press freedom. Of the 179 countries surveyed, Viet Nam ranked 172^nd.

The United States came ranked in 47^th place.

 “Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011,” Reporters Without Borders said in a news release.” Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them.”

The Top 10 countries in press freedom were: Finland, Norway, Estonia, Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cape Verde and Canada.

Following Viet Nam at the bottom of the list were Bahrain, China, Iran, Syria, Turkmenistan and North Korea. Finishing last was Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa.

The rankings among other Asian nations: Japan, 22; Taiwan, 45; Hong Kong, 54; Cambodia, 117; Philippines, 140; and Laos, 145.