Reporters Without Borders publishes 'predators of press freedom' list

Reporters Without Borders has released a list of 38 "predators of press freedom", including political leaders, criminal organisations and militias from across the world.

The annual report by the press freedom group, released on World Press Freedom Day, also includes ongoing issues such as organised crime in Italy and the Sinaloa, Gulf and Juárez cartels of Mexico.

According to RSF the Arab world has seen "the most important changes" in this year's list, following the ousting of Tunisia’s president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this year.

"Freedom of expression has been one of the first demands of the region's peoples, one of the first concessions from transitional regimes, and one of the first achievements, albeit a very fragile one, of its revolutions," RSF said in its report.

"Attempts to manipulate foreign reporters, arbitrary arrests and detention, deportation, denial of access, intimidation and threats – the list of abuses against the media during the Arab Spring is staggering."

According to the organisation there have been more than 30 cases of "arbitrary" detention in Libya and a "similar number" of foreign correspondents having been deported.

In March, BBC journalists and later in the month New York Times' reporters shared their experience of being detained in Libya, for what the New York Times' team called "days of brutality".

"Similar methods have been used in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, where the authorities make every possible effort to keep the media at a distance so that they cannot broadcast video footage of the repression," RSF added.

Last week Al Jazeera suspended operations of its Arab bureau in Syria for safety reasons and has since reported a journalist thought to have arrived in the country on Friday, as missing.

In today's report RSF pays tribute to those journalists who have lost their lives while reporting on the front line. This includes Tim Hetherington, a British photographer working for Vanity Fair, and Chris Hondros, an American photographer working for Getty Images, who were killed in April.

One of the biggest priorities for RSF for next year is Pakistan, the report adds, said to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

It called on media organizations in the most hazardous regions to reinforce mechanisms for protecting their journalists.

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