On 10/8/06, Michael Givel <mgivel at earthlink.net> wrote:
> On the other hand, it is hard to fudge statistics of assassinations of
> journalists like just occurred in Russia.
>
> By the way, as I read the table on Worldwide Press Freedom by RSF
> indicating
> that the "United States In Iraq" was listed as: 137 out of 167 while Iraq
> was listed as: 157 out of 167, see:
> http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554 Neither of these seem
> like
> a glowing testimony by RSF to freedom of press, regardless of funding
> sources.
It's not so much fudging of statistics as the fact that the ranking makes no sense based on the numbers of deaths and detentions that RSF lists, whether the numbers are regarded as absolute or relative to population sizes. -- Yoshie ******************** This is the methodology used by RSF according to their web site: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554
Reporters Without Borders compiled this Index of 167 countries by asking its partner organizations (14 freedom of expression groups from around the world) and its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, legal experts and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions designed to assess a country's level of press freedom. Some countries are not mentioned for lack of information about them.
The three issues in determining possible subjectivity or not regarding this survey is what were the 50 questions asked, how were they analyzed, and what was the agenda, if any, of those who answered the questions. This I think probably accounts for differences as you note.
Regardless, the final result as I noted earlier is hardly a ringing endorsement for press freedom under Iraq's purported "democracy."