The measure of freedom the press enjoys has always been a reliable barometer for the democratic health of a country. That is what makes the yearly worldwide index of the freedom of the press that Reporters Without Borders publishes since 2002 so interesting.

The index tries to measure the state of press freedom in the world by determining the degree of freedom journalists and news organizations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. This was done by asking journalists, researchers and legal experts 50 questions about the whole range of press freedom violations, such as murders or arrests of journalists, censorship, pressure, state monopolies in various fields, punishment of press law offenses and regulation of the media. In 2002 the list included 139 countries. By 2006 it had grown to 168.

In the worst scoring countries there is no freedom of press at all: no independent newspapers and the media are tightly controlled or monitored by the government. Journalists are censored, harassed, imprisoned or forced to leave the country and foreign media are banned. In the best scoring countries there is not only a scrupulous respect for the freedom of the press, but also an active policy of accusing its lack in other parts of the world. The latter is of course very important for assessing the information that originates in those countries that score low on the index.

Some results are surprising, others less so.

Consistently at the top of the list we find Finland, Iceland and the Netherlands, joined there in 2004 by Ireland, Slovakia and Switzerland.

All the members of the European Union are in the top 40, with Spain and Italy often at the bottom. In Italy's case the blame lies with Silvio Berlusconi who managed a vast media empire while at the same time being prime minister. Never a healthy combination. Denmark dropped from joint first place to 19th in 2006 because of serious threats by Islamic fundamentalists against the authors of the Mohamed cartoons published there in the autumn of 2005.

My own country, Belgium, started out in 2002 at the 12th place, rose to 7th in 2003, then fell to 22nd (shared with the United States) in 2003 an rose again to 14th in 2006.

The highest scoring non-European country is Canada: 5th in 2002, 10th in 2003, 18th in 2003 and 16th in 2006.

At the bottom of the list - no surprises there - we find Saudi Arabia, an important ally of the U.S., Cuba, Buthan, Turkmenistan, Burma, China and North Korea. They are joined by Laos and Iran in 2003 and Eritrea in 2004.

Most African countries are somewhere in the middle of the list. Benin, one of the poorest countries in the world, was in 21st place in 2006. The Eastern-European ex-communist countries are mostly steadily rising, with the notable exception of Russia (121st) and Belarus (124th).

In the Middle East no Arab country is found in the top 50. "In Iraq (130th) and Syria (126th), the state uses every means to control the media and stifle any dissenting voice. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein especially has set his country’s media the sole task of relaying his regime’s propaganda", the report of 2002 notes. In 2004, after the invasion, Iraq sinks to the 148th place and even deeper to the 154th place in 2006. Israel has the 92nd position, after Morocco, the Philippines and Swaziland, in 2002. The picture changes from 2003 because the index makes a distinction between Israeli territory (44th) and occupied territories (146th). In 2006 Israel is at the 50th place (Israeli territory) and 135th (occupied territories). The scores of the Palestinian Authority are not much better: 82nd in 2002, 130th in 2003, 127th in 2004 and 134th in 2006. Reasons enough to doubt any information that comes out of that region and which is not verified independently.

In 2002 the United States of America are at the 17th place, behind Costa Rica and Switzerland who share the 15th place. From 2003 onward the index distinguishes between press freedom at home and in occupied Iraq.  The U.S. falls to 31st place at home and 135th place in occupied Iraq, where the flow of information is controlled by the military. The report further clarifies: "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 behavior by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression." In 2004 the US (at home) shares the 22nd place with Belgium and rises to the 108th place in occupied Iraq, just above Cambodia but beneath  Kyrgyzstan. By 2006 the situation deteriorates further according to Reporters Without Borders: "The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security' to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on terrorism'. The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognize the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism. Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year." In occupied Iraq the US is at the 119th place in 2006.

A few general conclusions can be made. Freedom of the press is always one of the first victims of war. The freedom of press in what ex-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld so disparagingly called 'old Europe' is far healthier than in the country whose current president so often abuses the words 'freedom' and 'democracy'.

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