In its annual Press Freedom Index rankings, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) split Israel’s ranking in two: “Israel (Israeli territory),” ranks 46, while Israeli actions in the PA “Israel-extra territorial” (read: the IDF) ranks 149.
Perhaps the split is a positive move, reflecting the difficulties of balancing the values of media freedom and security concerns. For better or for worse, Israel and the US were the only countries labeled with such a distinction.
The split rankings shed light on Palestinian press freedom. The collective Palestinian Authorities the index refers to as “Palestinian Territories” ranks 163. Bottom line: the Palestinian stringers the MSM relies on enjoy more press freedom from the IDF than from their Hamas and Fatah leaders.
FYI, Iceland took top spot for greatest press freedom; While Eritrea edged North Korea for last place.
UPDATE: Despite RSF’s equally explicit criticism of problems in Cuba, Bolivia, Peru, France, Russia, China, Afghanistan, Burma, Morocco, Lebanon, Senegal, Mauritania, Eritrea and the Palestinian Authority, the BBC gives inordinate attention to Israel and the US.
