“When it comes to press freedom, Russia is now ranked below countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan.”
From the depressing, compelling “Kremlin, Inc” by Michael Specter in The New Yorker. Not available online.
“When it comes to press freedom, Russia is now ranked below countries like Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan.”
From the depressing, compelling “Kremlin, Inc” by Michael Specter in The New Yorker. Not available online.
Ranked by whom?
Always the skeptic, Felix. Don’t you trust The New Yorker’s fact checkers? (I don’t either.)
The Reporters sans frontieres latest press freedom index has Russia at 147. Sudan is at 139, Zimbabwe 140 and Afghanistan 130.
When I looked at the questionnaire I initially thought I knew what was going on: since it covers violations against journalists within a certain 12-month period, countries where journalists have pretty much got the message already and are no longer nearly as active as they used to be (eg Zimbabwe) are actually going to start rising up the league table. But then I noticed that North Korea was at the bottom of the list — which is something I can’t really square with the questionnaire, unless there’s some kind of dissident/underground press in North Korea I’ve never heard of. So I am a bit confused, but for the time being I’ll take the results at face value.
As for New Yorker fact checkers: Not in the slightest.