The U.S. is #53 on the press freedom list, 9 places down in one year

another proud statistic for the bush wall of shame...

[In this year's] global press freedom index, ... the United States ... slipped further down the scale of 168 countries rated, the group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.

[...]

Although it ranked 17th on the first list, published in 2002, the United States now stands at 53, having fallen nine places since last year.

"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 group said.

"The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 U.S. 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," the group said.

to be fair, the blame doesn't lie entirely with the bush administration... if our media would decide to grow a pair and stand up to these bullies, we might not be in a press freedom free-fall...

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