Friday, January 27, 2012
Karen Matthews, AP reporter arrested at Occupy Wall Street (photo: cryptome.org)
The arrests of more than two dozen journalists during the “Occupy” protests of 2011 are among the reasons why the United States saw its free-press ranking drop significantly in the latest report from Reporters Without Borders.
In the group’s 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index, the U.S., generally known for its dedication to free speech and freedom of the press, dropped 27 places on one year. It is now ranked 47th, tied with Romania and Argentina.
“I think the Occupy Wall Street arrests were our biggest concern,” Delphine Halgand, Reporters Without Borders’ Washington, DC director told Courthouse News.
The new report notes that within a two-month period, more than 25 journalists covering the Occupy protests were arrested and beaten by police. Josh Stearns of Free Press has catalogued 36 such arrests.
Halgand also said the government’s effort to force New York Times reporter James Risento to divulge his CIA source for a book and the expulsion of journalists from Guantánamo Bay prison as other factors for lowering the U.S. ranking.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Press Freedom Index 2011/2012 (Reporters Without Borders)
U.S. Press Freedom the Same as Romania's? (by Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News Service)
Crackdowns on Protests Cause Big Changes To Index Positions (Reporters Without Borders) (pdf)
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