The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), says democracy does not necessarily guarantee a free press, with security worries eroding freedom.

RSF cited the poor showing by the US and Israel, and urged US politicians to improve the situation.

The warning coincides with the publication of the group's annual global index of press freedom.

Iceland topped the list while the US was 36th. North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea were the lowest-ranked nations.

While parliamentary democracies not engaged in any war did well, others - including the US and Israel helped to erode free press, the report said.

Dominating the top 20 of the global index were European states, in particular Nordic countries such as Iceland, Norway and Finland.

Some of the newer democracies, including Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia, featured in the top 10. Britain was 23rd .

Some African countries were higher up the index than in previous years, such as Namibia, Ghana and Mali. They rated better than Spain and Italy, which the report says have slipped because of political or mafia interference.

China still languished in the bottom 10-despite it being Olympics year-just worse than Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Iran, although not quite as bad as Burma. The data was compiled for the year ending 1 September 2008.

Referring to Bangladesh, the RSF report said, There was a sharp decrease in the number of journalists physically attacked or receiving death threats from political militants and criminals. On the other hand, arrests increased markedly, with almost 40 cases in 2007. The government constantly stated that the media had a role to play in the fight against corruption and social injustice, but, in a new development, self-censorship began gradually to be applied to political issues. "Some asserted that the media was becoming the parliament in the absence of a government formed by elections. Others welcomed the emergence of a fourth estate. But one thing in the media was missing: critical articles on the current administration, clearly demonstrating the existence of censorship and self-censorship". The report mentioned about harassment of journalists by members of law enforcing agencies.

In the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2008, published by Reporters Without Borders Bangladesh ranks 136th among 173 countries.

Bangladesh had ranked 134th among 169 countries in 2007.

The international media have shown growing concern over the recent rise in human rights violations in Bangladesh.