Guyana has dropped 11 places to 69 on the Press Freedom Index 2012-2013, Reporters Without Borders has said, while citing the monopoly of radio broadcasting as the reason behind the country’s slippage.
According to the report, the seven-member Organization of East Caribbean States fell eight places to 34th because of often direct pressure from the political authorities on news media and the failure to move ahead with the decriminalisation of defamation.
“Similar pressure was reported in Guyana (69th), whose ranking continues to suffer from the state’s monopoly of radio broadcasting,” the report said.
Last year Guyana was ranked 58 out of 179 countries. The reporting period for this year’s Press Freedom Index ran from December 1, 2011 to November 30, 2012.
The government has granted radio licences to several persons but all them are said to have close links to the administration and observers have said that the issuance of licences seemed to be selective. One of the stations, Radio Guyana, which is owned by businessman Ranjisinghi Ramroop, who also operates a newspaper and a television station, has started its operation.
Meanwhile, the report said that the political tension and judicial harassment account for the ranking of other countries in the Guianas and Caribbean.
“Trinidad and Tobago (44th) still has not stopped its illegal monitoring of journalists’ phone calls and attempts to identify their sources, although it promised to stop in 2010,” the report said.
“In Suriname (down nine places to 31th), the often stormy relations between President Desi Bouterse and many journalists are unlikely to improve after the passage of an amnesty law for the murders of around 15 government opponents, including five journalists, three decades ago when Bouterse was Suriname’s dictator. He returned to power through the polls in 2010,” it further stated.
The Paris-based organisation also said that after the “Arab springs” and other protest movements that prompted many rises and falls in last year’s index, “the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to a more usual configuration.”
It stated that the ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments.
“This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term,” it said.
And the same three European countries that headed the index last year hold the top three positions again this year. For the third year running, Finland has distinguished itself as the country that most respects media freedom. It is followed by the Netherlands and Norway.
Although many criteria are considered, ranging from legislation to violence against journalists, democratic countries occupy the top of the index while dictatorial countries occupy the last three positions. Again, it is the same three as last year – Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
