Freedom of the Press in France and the U.S.

Better yet, Reporters Without Borders just published its Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2005.

The index measures the state of freedom of the press in each country, and the efforts made by the states to respect that freedom. It is based solely on events between 1 September 2004 and 1 September 2005. It does not look at human rights violations in general, just press freedom violations.

• The United States (44th) fell more than 20 places, mainly because of the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources.

• France (30th) also slipped, largely because of searches of media offices, interrogations of journalists and introduction of new press offences.

Then again, the least corrupt states (see our previous posting on corruption), the Northern European countries, are also those at the top of the Index. Long Live Scandinavia!

[chart also found on Superfrenchie]