Per capita, Cuba is the world's No. 1 jailer of journalists, the most certain indicator of press freedoms, or the lack thereof, on the island. And those Cubans who are able to report on the reality of life on the island — which doesn't include the transcriptionists and mouthpieces in the state-run media — face numerous obstacles as they try to fulfill the mission of journalists everywhere: To speak truth to power.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has again confirmed this, with its 2008 press freedom index, released today. Using various criteria, RSF found that Cuba was the 169th "freest" country in the world, ranking above only Burma, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea. Even China (No. 167), Iran (No. 166), Saudi Arabia (No. 161) Iraq (No. 158), Zimbabwe (No. 151) and Russia (No. 141) ranked higher. (The United States came in tied for 36th place.)
Perhaps more telling is how Cuba came in out of step with most of the rest of Latin America. The next-lowest-ranked Latin America nations were Mexico (No. 140), Colombia (tied at No. 126) and Venezuela (No. 113). The highest-ranked Latin American country was Costa Rica, at No. 22.
Cuba's standing has remained about unchanged since RSF began the survey in 2002, when Cuba ranked 134 out of 139 nations changed. In 2003 — the year of the "black spring" crackdown on journalists and other dissidents — and in 2004, Cuba was picked as the second-worst offender of press freedoms; only North Korea was worst.
So why do these rankings matter?
Regardless of what you think about the media, the freer the free press, the freer the nation, whether it is Iceland, Luxembourg or Norway, which came in a three-way tie at No. 1; the United States; or Cuba. It is not just our freedom as journalists, it is your freedom, too.
RSF counts 23 journalists in Cuban jails. I count 27.
You can read about them, here.
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