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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Press freedom shrinks in Venezuela |
| 2010-04-30 |
| Press freedom declined worldwide for an eighth consecutive year in 2009 and Venezuela was one of the countries where independent media were attacked, said Washington-based human rights advocate Freedom House. In a report, the organization claimed that that the biggest setbacks for press freedom in Latin America occurred in Mexico and Honduras, adding that independent media faced new challenges in Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Governments such as China, Russia and Venezuela "have been systematically encroaching on what used to be the comparatively free environment of the Internet and news media," said the report, titled "Freedom of the Press 2010." Comparatively free in China and Russia? Karin Karlekar, editor of the study, said that while press freedom expanded in the last years of the 20th century in many regions, it has contracted in the 21st century. "Unfortunately, the positive changes seen in previous decades have not been consolidated," she said. The report identified 10 of the worst countries in terms of press freedom. They are, in alphabetical order, Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. |
| Posted by:Steve White |