新聞自由度大排名無疆界記者組織（RSF）日前公布2003年世界新聞自由排名，與去年139個國家的排名相較，今年排名增加至166國，幾乎涵蓋所有的聯合國會員國，遍布世界各大洲。綜觀今年的排名，可歸納出幾項特色：

首先是，國家富裕程度與新聞自由並不呈現正相關，新聞自由排名前50名的國家中，有幾個是貧窮國家。一些西方先進國家2003年的表現甚至比2002年還差（見附表）。

第二，美國因在攻擊伊拉克其間，在戰地實施新聞管制，導致多名記者死亡，以色列也因在巴勒斯坦領區不斷施虐於記者，因此新聞自由排名低落。

第三，阿拉伯國家因伊拉克戰爭，為顧及國家顏面和因應國內的反戰聲浪，對新聞媒體和記者的管制益趨嚴格。第四，歐盟各會員國，除義大利和西班牙外，新聞自由排名均佳。義大利因總理貝魯斯柯尼擁有全國最大的媒體集團，未能做到利益迴避；西安牙因禁止巴斯克地區的媒體和記者，報導巴斯克獨立運動，兩國新聞自由排名不佳。

第五，前蘇聯境內各共和國對新聞媒體和記者，仍有進行打壓和新聞檢查的情事。第六，除了國家透過政治手段打壓新聞自由，包括政黨、幫派、游擊隊也對新聞自由造成威脅。第七，非洲國家的新聞自由仍受內戰的摧殘。

Reporters Without Borders today publishes its second world press freedom ranking. Like last year, the most catastrophic situation is to found in Asia, with eight countries in the bottom ten : North Korea, Burma, Laos, China, Iran, Vietnam, Turkmenistan and Bhutan. Independent news media are either non-existent in these countries, or are constantly repressed by the authorities. Journalists there work in extremely difficult conditions, with no freedom and no security. A number of them are imprisoned in Burma, China and Iran.

To compile this ranking, Reporters Without Borders asked journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists to fill out a questionnaire evaluating respect for press freedom in a particular country. A total of 166 countries are included in the ranking (as against 139 last year). The other countries were left out because of a lack of reliable, well-supported data.

Wealth and press freedom don't always go together

As in 2002, the ranking shows that a country's respect for press freedom is not solely linked to its economic development. The top 50 include countries that are among the poorest in the world, such as Benin (29th position), Timor-Leste (30th) and Madagascar (46th).

Conversely, the 50 countries that respect press freedom least include such rich nations as Bahrain (117th) and Singapore (144th).

Special situation of the United States and Israel.

The ranking distinguishes behaviour at home and abroad in the cases of the United States and Israel. They are ranked in 31st and 44th positions respectively as regards respect for freedom of expression on their own territory, but they fall to the 135th and 146th positions as regards behaviour beyond their borders.

The Israeli army's repeated abuses against journalists in the occupied territories and the US army's responsibility in the death of several reporters during the war in Iraq constitute unacceptable behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression.

General deterioration in the Arab world

The war in Iraq played a major role in an increased crackdown on the press by the Arab regimes. Concerned about maintaining their image and facing public opinion largely opposed to the war, they stepped up control of the press and increased pressure on journalists, who are forced to use self-censorship.

Kuwait (102nd) replaced Lebanon (106th) as the Arab world's leader as regards respect for freedom of expression because of cases of censorship in Lebanon, together with abusive judicial proceedings and an attack on the television station Futur TV. Saudi Arabia (156th), Syria (155th), Libya (153rd) and Oman (152nd) used all the means at their disposal to prevent the emergence of a free and independent press.

European Union gets good rankings, except Italy and Spain

Italy received a poor ranking (53rd) compared with the other European Union countries for the second year running. Silvio Berlusconi's conflict of interests as head of government and owner of a media empire is still unresolved. Furthermore, a draft law to reform radio and TV broadcasting, tailored to Berlusconi's interests, is likely to increase the threats to news diversity in Italy.

Spain's relatively low ranking (42nd) is due to difficulties for journalists in the Basque country. The terrorist organisation ETA has stepped up its threats against the news media, promising to target journalists whose coverage does not match its view of the situation. Furthermore, the necessary fight against terrorism has affected press freedom, with the forced closure as a "preventive measure" of the Basque newspaper Egunkaria, whose senior staff are suspected of collaborating with ETA.

France is ranked as low as 26th because of its archaic defamation legislation, the increasingly frequent challenges to the principle of confidentiality of sources and the repeated abusive detention of journalists by police.

Former USSR still lags behind

The situation remains worrying in Russia (148th), Ukraine (132nd) and Belarus (151st). A truly independent press exists in Russia, but Russia's poor ranking is justified by the censorship of anything to do with the war in Chechnya, several murders and the recent abduction of the Agence France-Presse correspondent in Ingushetia. Russia continues to be one of the world's deadliest countries for journalists.

Press freedom is virtually non-existent in much of central Asia, especially Turkmenistan (158th) and Uzbekistan (154th). No criticism of the authorities is tolerated.

Non-state violence

Several countries with a democratically-elected government and a free and independent press have poor rankings. This is most notably the case with Bangladesh (143rd), Colombia (147th) and Philippines (118th). Journalists in these countries are the victims of violence that comes not only from the state but also from political parties, criminal gangs or guerrilla groups. In other cases, such as Nepal (150th), the press is caught in the cross fire between security forces and rebels.

Such violence results in considerable self-censorship by the news media, which do not dare to broach such subjects as corruption, collusion between political leaders and organised crime, or sectarian clashes. At the same time, the authorities very often fail to respond to this violence with the appropriate measures, namely protection for journalists and the punishment of those responsible.

News is the victim of war in Africa

Wars and serious political crises have inevitably had an impact on press freedom in Africa. The three countries that have fallen most in the ranking in the past 12 months are Cote d'Ivoire (137th), Liberia (132nd) and Guinea-Bissau (118th). Local and foreign journalists were exposed to the violence of the warring parties in Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, while the military closed down news media in Guinea-Bissau.

RSF的排名衡量了全世界的新聞自由狀況。它反映新聞從業人員與新聞組織在不同國家所處的自由程度，及各國為確保新聞自由而做的努力。

此排名是某一時期的即時顯影。它只評鑑2002年9月1日至2003年9月1日所發生有關於新聞自由的事件。一般性的人權侵害並不列入考量，唯有針對新聞自由的侵犯才是評鑑範圍。而為製作此排名，RSF設計了一份具有53項標準的問卷，用以評定各國的新聞自由狀況。其中包括任何直接影響新聞從業人員（例如謀殺、監禁、身體上的攻擊與傷害）與新聞媒體（例如新聞審查、禁止報導、搜索與騷擾）的損害。它並記錄了妨礙新聞自由卻得以豁免的程度。這份問卷的評鑑範圍還包括司法判決與法律對媒體的影響（例如對新聞媒體的刑罰、媒體壟斷問題、限制新聞媒體的出現），以及政府對於國營性質的新聞媒體、與國際通訊社所採取的行為。妨礙網路上的資訊自由流通也在評鑑範圍內。RSF的評鑑不只針對國家對新聞自由的侵害，也包含任何能傷害新聞自由的武裝部隊、地下組織、或是壓力團體。

這份問卷主要是由一些對該國或眾多國家的新聞自由程度，具有深厚認知的人士來回答：諸如當地記者或駐外特派員、研究員、法律學者、宗教專家，與在無疆界記者組織國際秘書處任職的研究員。各國的排名是RSF根據眾多獨立的受訪者所寄回的問卷決定。而其餘未編入排名的國家，則是因為缺乏可靠的資料。如果出現票數相同的情況時，則是依字母順序排名。

最後，應避免視此排名為衡量媒體品質的指標。RSF捍衛新聞自由，但不評斷新聞媒體所編輯內容的品質，沒有任何評鑑項目是針對新聞媒體違反職業道德與法規。

RSF是個法國味濃厚的國際組織。1985年，法國人Robert Menard在巴黎創立RSF，目的是為世界上的記者提供許多實質上的幫助，減少他們工作時可能面臨的障礙。其網站www.rsf.org同時提供西班牙文及法文網頁，以便讓更多人知悉RSF所發布的消息。事實上，RSF即取自西班牙文Reporteros Sin Fronteras或法文Reporters sans frontieres三個單字的第一個字母。RSF在創辦之初，即在全球五大洲設置了重要據點，包括德國、奧地利、西班牙、法國、大英國協、義大利、瑞典、瑞士。迄今走過17個艱難歲月的RSF，半數的經費來自於自籌，半數的經費則靠民間捐款（捐款者包括FNAC、NMPP、CFAO、Hewlett Packard、Fondation de France等法國公司或基金會）及販售記者所拍的珍貴影像。

RSF與世界各地的1百多個特派員聯繫，想知道是否又有記者或是新聞發布受到不當脅迫，努力為新聞自由把關。RSF不僅要將受到威脅的新聞事件報導出來，更會透過金錢或其他物資，幫助正被監禁的或被迫害的新聞工作者一臂之力，此外，為了不讓記者遭受威脅，其相關家屬也會受到RSF的援助。在國際上，RSF致力敦促各國減少新聞檢查，並反對各國立法來訂定新聞自由的準則。另一方面，記者不需擔心惱人的官司問題。受迫害的記者可以透過在2002年1月間成立的Damocles Network，向迫害者在其國內法院或國際法院提出控訴。RSF訂每年的5月3日為「世界新聞自由日」，同年的12月10日，RSF也將頒發無疆界記者組織——法國基金會獎，給當年致力於新聞自由的記者，以茲獎勵。

Reporters Without Borders, kept on constant alert via its network of over 100 correspondents, rigorously condemns any attack on press freedom world-wide by keeping the media and public opinion informed through press releases and public-awareness campaigns.

The association defends journalists and other media contributors and professionals who have been imprisoned or persecuted for doing their work. It speaks out against the abusive treatment and torture that is still common practice in many countries.

The organisation supports journalists who are being threatened in their own countries and provides financial and other types of support to their needy families.

Reporters Without Borders is fighting to reduce the use of censorship and to oppose laws designed to restrict press freedom.

Finally, since January 2002, when it created the Damocles Network, Reporters Without Borders acquired a judicial arm. In order to ensure that murderers and torturers of journalists are brought to trial, the Network provides victims with legal services and represents them before the competent national and international courts, so that proper judicial procedures can be implemented.

Reporters Without Borders' maintains this trilingual (French, English and Spanish) website in order to keep a daily tally of attacks on press freedom as they occur throughout the world. Updated several times a day, it functions like a press-freedom news agency. It gives Internet users an opportunity to act as a group to demand the release of jailed journalists by signing on-line petitions. To circumvent censorship, it presents occasionally articles that have been banned in their country of origin, hosts newspapers that have been closed down in their homeland and serves as a forum where journalists who have been "silenced" by authorities can voice their opinions. This website, which welcomes 35,000 to 45,000 visitors per month, also provides complete reports on cases covered in the press, as well as a daily "barometer" summarising the most recent attacks on press freedom.

Every year, on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders celebrates World Press Freedom Day. On this occasion, it publishes a full report of the status of press freedom in more than 150 countries. In addition, the association offers news staffs around the world an opportunity to support incarcerated journalists through its "sponsorship" programme. Once a year, Sponsorship Day provides an occasion to break the silence and openly discuss the situation of these journalists who have been jailed because they chose to keep us informed. On 10 December of every year, the association awards the Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France Prize to the journalist who has contributed the most to the cause of press freedom in his(her) country. The funds that make it possible for Reporters Without Borders to carry on its daily fight are derived from the annual sale of two photo magazines, public donations and the support provided by various institutions.

無疆界記者組織（RSF）日前公布的各國新聞自由排名，其中美國在伊拉克部分退至百名之外，而台灣也從去年的35名下降為61名；對此排名結果，世新大學新聞系講師余陽洲表示，這可分別歸因於911恐怖攻擊後普遍地嚴格檢查，以及台灣檢調單位頻頻搜查媒體、與呂副總統控告新新聞等事件。不過余陽洲也指出，由於台灣媒體與閱聽人長期不重視國際新聞自由排名，因此名次下降也不會刺激政府與媒體積極改善現況。

余陽洲表示，台灣新聞界與閱聽人長期以來，均不注重國際新聞，連帶導致對國際新聞自由排名的冷漠，即使名次大幅下降，新聞媒體也只將其視為單一新聞事件炒作，而不會督促改善現況，對提昇台灣新聞自由並無助益。

此外，余陽洲指出，無疆界記者組織並非唯一製作新聞自由排名的單位，另有一歷史更悠久的自由之屋（Freedom House），每年都會公布新排名。