April 30, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1429

WASHINGTON, April 29: Worldwide, the environment for journalists grew more hostile last year, extending a six-year downturn, US researchers reported on Tuesday.

Setbacks for press freedom outnumbered advances 2-to-1 across the globe, although the Internet and blogs helped slow the decline, particularly in Iran, reported the Freedom House, a non-profit organisation that released the report in advance of the World Press Freedom Day on Saturday.

“There have been repeated crackdowns in the past few years and Iran is on the cusp of the bottom-performing category, but kept out by these forms of expression,” said Karlin Karlekar, senior researcher for the Freedom House.

Iraq, meanwhile, again was a disappointment. “There hasn’t been the improvement in Iraq one hoped for several years ago,” the researcher said. “One of the reasons given for the invasion was to bring democracy to Iraq. The democracy that has been established is highly problematic.”

Still, the US-backed country was not listed among the worst countries for press freedom. The worst-rated country was North Korea, while Burma was second with a worsening crackdown in the media. Cuba, Libya, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were also among the worst-rated.

Since media played a key role covering coups and contested elections in such countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Georgia, journalists became prime targets of government crackdowns, according to the report.

“For every step forward in press freedom last year there were two steps back,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, in a statement accompanying the report. “When press freedom is in retreat it is an ominous sign that restrictions on other freedoms may soon follow.”

And yet, journalists were credited with pushing the boundaries set by authorities. In Egypt, for instance, their increased willingness to cross “red lines” was cited as boosting the country into the partly free category from the not-free group.Violence against journalists was cited in a wide range of countries, including Mexico, Russia and the Philippines.

Abuse of libel laws increased in a number of countries, particularly Africa.

The region of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, recorded the largest region-wide setback, including declines in press freedom in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and several Central European countries.

Western Europe again had the highest level of press freedom in the world, although declines were registered in Portugal, Malta and Turkey.

Of 195 countries and territories rated, 72 were cited as free, 59 as partly free and 64 as not free.—AP