媒體監督組織報告全球新聞自由度下滑

When journalists and media rights activists gather in Helsinki to mark World Press Freedom day Tuesday, there will be a notable absence: Journalist Khadija Ismayilova, recipient of this year’s UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, is currently serving a 7.5-year sentence in Azerbaijan for her work exposing government corruption.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says some 200 journalists like Khadija are currently jailed across the world. And prison isn’t the only way that governments co-opt or suppress the media.

Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk was also invited to Helsinki, but the ruling military junta has banned him from leaving the country – a small price to be paid, he recently wrote, “as journalists elsewhere face long-term detention or even assassination.

Global press freedom has fallen to its lowest point in more than a decade, notes Freedom House in its latest annual report, which scores 199 countries and territories, democracies and autocracies. “Only 13 percent of the world’s population enjoys a free press—that is, where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures,” the report finds.記者和媒體維權人士星期二聚集在赫爾辛基紀念世界新聞自由日之際，獲得今年聯合國教科文組織吉列爾莫·卡諾世界新聞自由獎的阿塞拜疆著名記者伊斯馬伊洛娃的缺席引人注目，她因揭露政府腐敗的報道被判處7年半徒刑，目前正在獄中。

保護記者委員會（CPJ）說，世界各地有大約200名記者像伊斯馬伊洛娃一樣被關在獄中，而監禁並不是政府打壓媒體的唯一方法。

泰國記者普拉維也受邀前往赫爾辛基，但執政的軍政府禁止他出境，這算是一個很小的代價，他最近寫道，“其他地方的記者面臨長期拘留，甚至被暗殺。”

自由之家在最新年度報告中說，全球新聞自由已經下降到十多年來的最低點。這份報告對199個國家和地區，包括民主和獨裁地區作出評價。報告指出，“世界上僅有13％的人口享有新聞自由，也就是說，當地政治新聞報道強有力，記者的安全有保障，政府基本不太插手媒體事務，新聞界也不受繁重的法律或經濟壓力。”