Press freedom in Asia

Taiwan ranks highest in Asia when it comes to press freedom, according to Reporters Sans Frontiers, the NGO that represents journalists around the World. Japan and South Korea come second and third.

Here is Asia on the global ranking scale (Kurashi News From Japan list):

32 Taiwan
37 Japan
39 South Korea
61 Hong Kong
74 Mongolia
85 Cambodia
100 Indonesia
120 India
124 Malaysia
128 The Philippines
135 Thailand
137 Nepal
141 Singapore
161 Laos
162 Vietnam
163 China
164 Burma
168 North Korea

Sweden ranks fifth, after Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Slovakia, Belgium, and Finland.

“We are particularly disturbed by the situation in Burma (164th),” Reporters Without Borders said. “The military junta’s crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country. Journalists continue to work under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads. We also regret that China (163rd) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope.”