The number of people around the world who have access to free and independent media has declined to the lowest level in more than a decade, says Freedom Watch:
In this year's annual index of global media freedom of 196 countries and territories, Freedom House says it rated 68 as "free" and the remaining two thirds as "partly free" or "not free."
Freedom House Senior Editor Karin Karlekar says this is roughly an even breakdown, but a closer look reveals a different picture. "If you look at the population statistics, they are much bleaker, only 15 percent of the world's inhabitants or one in six live in countries with a free press, while 42 percent have a partly free press and 43 percent, the majority, are in a not-free press," she said.
This perhaps isn't as crucial as it once was. Even as "the press" is being suppressed, the Internet, smartphones and social media are exploding; more and more, people have the ability to do their own journalism. Repressive regimes try to control all these new modes of commmunicating, too, of course, and with some success, but it's getting harder for them to keep up with technology.
But press crackdowns are important signs of how far a government is willing to take its tyranny. Controlling the flow of information is an essential part of controlling the population.
