Sudan again ranked bottom in press freedom

Sdunlimitedbloggers.blogspot/ file

For the second year in a row, the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index released last week ranked Sudan 170^th, the same spot as last year, out of a total 179 countries.

In the wake of the “Arab Spring” and other protest movements that prompted many fluctuations in last year’s index, the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to the more familiar standings.

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”. Said the index which was titled this year as “2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed hopes after spring”.

Filing the matter under “business as usual”, the index pointed out that Sudan has made no progress and completes the list of the ten countries with the least respect for media freedom.

“For the second year running, the bottom three countries are immediately preceded by Syria (176th, 0), where an eradicative information war is being waged, and Somalia (175th, -11), which has had a deadly year for journalists, in the literal sense. Iran (174th, +1), China (173rd, +1), Vietnam (unchanged at 172nd), Cuba (171st, -4), Sudan (170th, 0) and Yemen (169th, +2) complete the list of the ten countries with the least regard for media freedom.

Not content with imprisoning journalists and netizens, Iran also harasses the relatives of journalists, including the relatives of those who are abroad”, the index added.

Veteran Sudanese journalist and writer, Faisal Mohammed Salih, was quoted by many online outlets as saying that various factors influenced Sudan's poor standing in the press freedom index.

"The security services exercise direct control on newspapers and on media houses. They prevent journalists from writing articles or confiscate and prevent editions from being printed. This causes severe financial losses for media houses' owners" he said.

The government controls "everything" Salih said, stressing that this prevents the population from gaining access to information.

Salih pointed out the indicators above will "always put Sudan in a low position" especially when compared to other Arab or African countries.

The head of the Sudanese Printing and Publication Council, the official regulator of the print-media sector, has previously admitted that the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) override his mandate.

Reporters Without Borders, however, says that their index does not take direct account of the sort of political system in place. “But it is clear that democracies provide better protection for the freedom to produce and circulate accurate news and information than countries where human rights are flouted,” Reporters Without Borders secretary general Christophe Deloire said.

Coinciding with the release of the index, Reporters Without Borders is to start publishing an annual global “indicator” of worldwide media freedom, which evaluates the level of freedom of information around the globe.

It is high time for taking concrete steps to ensure press freedom which is the basis of democracy, development and peace which we all seek.