RSF Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 2007 edition of their Press Freedom Index. These rankings may not always be the most scientific way to describe politics, but they sure are fun. While the full reports are not out yet, the Maghreb ranking is as follows:

• Mauritania: 50 (up 27)
• Morocco: 106 (down 9)
• Algeria: 123 (up 3)
• Tunisia: 145 (up 3)
• Libya: 155 (down 3)
  

The total number of countries and territories ranked is 169, a slot held by Eritrea in cutthroat competition with North Korea. The Nordic countries, headed by Iceland, crowd the other end of the list, along with other European nations.

Annoyingly, Western Sahara remains fully included in the Moroccan score. Moroccans may like it that way, but it contrasts sharply with how Israel and the USA are treated. In those cases, both are awarded separate categories for their actions outside of recognized national territory, even when they (like Morocco) argue that it in fact is national territory, as does Israel in annexed East Jerusalem. Apart from the potential political implications, treating Morocco differently creates a double distortion of the score table: it pulls down a Moroccan result that should be better (consider how many of Morocco's recent press abuses have stemmed from Western Sahara), and at the same time fails to accurately depict the difficulties in reporting from Western Sahara (which are libyanesque).

Why the RSF treats extra-territorial press abuse differently for different countries is a mystery in itself: until recently, it would not even draw a line between Western Sahara and Morocco on its map (now they have paintbrushed one in, somewhat north of where it should be), but not for not being aware of the conflict. I've been told that even a few national (non-French) RSF branches have reacted and asked for this to be corrected -- or if not, explained -- but to no avail. Readers are free to speculate on why this is so.

Anyway, Morocco, alone among Maghreb countries, gets special mention in the report summary this year. Echoing earlier criticisms, the RSF decries the press freedom backslide in the country this last year:

. . . Morocco’s journalists have in the past 12 months been the target of repeated attacks for which they were not prepared. Confiscation of newspaper issues, temporary closures of newspapers, summonses for questioning, imprisonment and severe sentences will leave lasting scars on the journalistic community, which is now very mistrustful of the government’s promises of reform.

Still, Mauritania's press freedom improvements seem more interesting to me, considering that the country was stuck at a miserable 138th place just two years ago. See what a little military coup can do?
[picture: solomonic justice à la RSF: morocco gets a slice of the sahara, and the sahara gets a slice of morocco]