October 20, 2007 | 12:00am
Fewer journalists were murdered in recent months, making the Philippines lose its place of dishonor as the second most dangerous place in the world after Iraq for media workers. The husband of the President also stopped suing for libel, withdrawing most of the lawsuits after he survived a serious stroke. Still, the ranking of the Philippines in the latest international press freedom index is not encouraging. Paris-based Reporters without Borders placed the Philippines at 128th among 169 countries – a slight improvement from the previous year, but still behind such countries as Colombia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Uganda, Cambodia, Haiti and El Salvador.
There are Philippine public officials and private individuals who surely think the country will be better off with an even worse ranking. After all, being near the bottom of the Press Freedom Index does not seem to be hurting the economic progress of China, which ranked 163rd, just ahead of the worst of the lot — Burma, Cuba, Iran, Turkmenistan, North Korea and bottom-dweller Eritrea. Singapore has a different concept of the role of the press and does not appear to be bothered by whatever poor rank it receives in press freedom surveys. Vietnam, which was rated just a notch higher than China, isn’t doing too badly either in economic development, and might soon overtake the Philippines if our politicians keep fighting over brown paper bags filled with cash. The United States, the world’s bastion of democracy, ranked 48th.
Still, there has to be a connection between economic prosperity and the level of press freedom. Consider the countries with the highest rating on the index: Iceland and Norway shared the top spot, followed by Estonia and Slovakia, and then Belgium, Finland and Sweden. Press freedom, exercised with responsibility, is essential in promoting transparency and good governance, which in turn are indispensable for sustained economic growth in a democratic setting. This cannot be possible as long as journalists continue to be murdered in connection with their work, with most of the attacks remaining unsolved. If Filipinos want democracy to work, each one has a stake in nurturing freedom of the press.
