Working as a journalist is rewarding, but there’s nothing that can compare to having to do your job under duress, under censorship, under fear for your life, much like it happens in these 11 worst countries for journalists in 2015.
When you try to find out the truth and expose corruption and wrongdoings to the eye of the public, you’re unavoidably going to create some enemies. Some, the more civilized kind, will just accept that they shouldn’t have done the wrongs that you’re exposing them for, although we’re mostly talking about some utopian situation here. No, the most civilized of the lot will resent you for life, but they’ll keep it all to cursing you under their breaths or even outright in the open. The worst of them will have you killed.
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Although it may seem difficult to comprehend at times, there are areas in this world where the press is not free, it’s not free to write about whatever it wants, and it’s certainly not free to write about all that it unearths during various investigations. That’s assuming those investigations even take place because most of the times journalists encounter solid walls which they can’t bypass, no matter what they do. Yet, these places exist and the bumps in the road are often laid out by government officials, politicians, and wealthy businessmen.
Even worse, on top of censorship and the lack of freedom that journalists encounter, there are countries where this job can be equal to a death sentence. Some of the countries on this list are also, unsurprisingly, present on the list of the 11 worst governed countries in the world.
In order to put together our list, we took a look at several charts published by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders regarding censorship, press freedom, as well as journalists jailed or killed on the job. We handed out points for each category and added them up resulting in our final list of 11 worst countries for journalists in 2015.
11. France
Score – 10
It’s not really fair to have France on this list since it fairs quite well on the press freedom index from Reporters Without Borders, ranking 38th. However, one sad event placed it here, namely the tragic attacks from the Charlie Hebdo newsroom when many journalists died for doing something they believed in, in a world that sometimes doesn’t understand what satire is.
Out of the 12 victims at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom, 9 were journalists – cartoonists, columnists, and editors. Others were wounded but survived the mass shooting run by the two brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi on January 7, 2015. Hopefully, something like this will not happen ever again.
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10. Egypt
Score – 10
Egypt isn’t exactly known for its freedom of speech, much less freedom of the press (it ranks 158th on the World Press Freedom Index), but it’s something else that brings it on this list – the number of journalists it has imprisoned. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of December 2015, Egypt has imprisoned 23 journalists.
Some of them were arrested for covering the violent clashes between the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters and security forces while others were arrested for what they wrote or said on TV, especially the things that were considered to be anti-state. While international pressure has been put on Egypt to release the journalists nothing has been done so far.
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9. Azerbaijan
Score – 12
Although a democratic republic, Azerbaijan still holds something of its legacy as a former Soviet state. In fact, the country gets points on two separate lists – censorship and number of arrested journalists. Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists puts Azerbaijan on the fifth place in terms of censorship.
Since most televisions are owned and controlled by the state or state-related officials, internet broadcasters are restricted and print outlets harassed by officials, access to real information is something of an issue in this country. Journalists and bloggers were jailed for having the courage to speak out while the rest are either being censored or censor themselves after being bullied by state officials.
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8. Saudi Arabia
Score – 13
Ranking 164th on the World Press Freedom Index, Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly the best country to be a journalist. The country also landed on the third spot on the list of the world’s most censored countries, the nations where the media’s voice is strangled by those in power.
Things have gotten so bad in the past few years, post-Arab Spring, that the press law now punishes the publication of any materials that contravene sharia, promote any kind of foreign interests, go against public order, affect national security, enable criminal activity or impinge on state interests. Basically, anything you say could be judged in a way that could get you in jail. What’s more, it’s not just television and traditional press that’s being censored, but also the Internet, with the General Commission for Audiovisual Media taking on the job of monitoring online content, as well as YouTube videos to make sure the Saudi contributors respect the imposed rules. Many journalists have been imprisoned by the Saudi officials.
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7. Vietnam
Score – 14
Being a journalist in Vietnam is surely hard, considering that it received points for three out of four topics – censorship, press freedom, and a number of imprisoned journalists.
Vietnam landed on the 6th place on the list of the most censored countries in 2015. Considering that, by law, all media must serve as a propaganda tool for the government and the president and that it’s forbidden for any print or broadcast outlets to be owned privately, it’s pretty easy to see why they’re in the situation they’re in. Not even the Internet is safe as social media platforms are censored as well, making anyone posting foreign news articles or materials that are deemed as harmful eligible for prison time.
What’s more, those who don’t abide and fight against the system are imprisoned. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Vietnam has imprisoned 6 journalists in 2015, with the total number running higher. Vietnam is also the 175th country out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index.
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6. Ethiopia
Score – 14
Censorship isn’t exactly a foreign concept in Ethiopia and the country lands on the fourth place on the chart released by the Committee to Protect Journalists. With little independent media to talk of, before the May 2015 elections state officials cracked down on these too, arresting journalists, intimidating those that remained free. Online censorship is also taking place as the sole Internet provider is owned by the state-controlled telecommunications company and they’ll suspend critical news websites whenever they see fit.
5. Iran
Score – 18
Iran is one of the countries where freedom of speech isn’t exactly guaranteed for most of the population. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the media is being censored either. On the list of the countries where the press is most censored, Iran ranked seventh. To put it in short, mass detentions for journalists aren’t out of ordinary and neither is intimidating everyone to write state-approved messages. Not too long ago, Iran was the country that jailed the most journalists and it’s not doing that much better nowadays either.
On the chart indicating the countries with the most and the least freedom for the press, Iran ranked 173rd out of a total of 180 countries.
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4. North Korea
Score – 20
Freedom as a whole isn’t exactly something that you’d associate with North Korea, at least not in the way most of us see it. The situation for the media isn’t that much different. The country’s law may call for freedom of the press, but in reality, the situation is a bit different as independent news sources are few and far between. In fact, most content from the North Korean newspapers and TV stations comes from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. To top things off, you’d only have Internet access if you’re a top politician, which means that very few people actually know what’s really happening in the world.
In the chart reflecting press freedom published yearly by Reporters Without Borders, North Korea comes second to last, indicating just how bad the situation is.
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3. Syria
Score – 22
With how bad the situation is in Syria nowadays, you’d imagine that the situation with the media is pretty dire and you’d be right. While the country doesn’t make it on the list of the top censored countries, it doesn’t do very well in the other categories, namely press freedom and a number of imprisoned or killed journalists.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Syria ranks 177th on a list of 180 countries, reflecting just how much freedom to write the truth the local media has. Journalists are also being jailed for the things they write and it seems that no matter how well they argument their case it’s still difficult to get them out of prison. Syria is also the deadliest country for journalists in 2015, with some 14 reporters losing their lives on the country’s territories, bringing the total up to nearly 100.
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2. China
Score – 22
China is such an advanced country in many areas and yet lags behind badly in others. In an effort to keep the population loyal to the leaders, China’s imposed censorship does much of the work. The country landed on the eighth place among the world’s nations with the highest censorship levels. There’s a body of the Chinese government that monitors all media and seeks to combat several political perils and to keep the population away from the Western values regarding media. Seeing as how the Internet is also heavily censored and the local social media outlets monitored closely, there’s little place for the people to get their information from.
In the World Press Freedom Index, China landed on the 176th spot, being overtaken only by Syria, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
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1. Eritrea
Score – 30
This African country is the worst place in the world where you could practice journalism. Eritrea ended up at the bottom of the list from Reporters Without Borders regarding freedom of the press, but also on that regarding media censorship. In fact, it’s pretty hard to be a journalist in this country as the only media that is allowed is state owned. Since not even international correspondents are allowed, you can get a pretty clear image of the situation there. Things are even worse as the media representatives fear for their lives as many are jailed without even being taken to court to explain their actions. In fact, out of all African nations, Eritrea has the most jailed journalists.
Some have gone into exile and try to independently report the truth over the Internet, but the state has a tight leash on the Internet too, jamming the signals or taking down Internet access altogether. Even so, according to the UN International Telecommunication Union, less than one percent of the population even bothers going online as it is. Overall, Eritrea is by far the nation that tops the list of the 11 worst countries for journalists in 2015.
