USA #49 out of 180, in World press freedom rankings

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:gba:

The write up
Quote:
In the United States, 2014 was marked by judicial harassment of New York Times investigative reporter James Risen in connection with the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer charged under the Espionage Act with giving him classified information. US journalists are still not protected by a federal shield law that would guarantee their right not to name their sources or reveal other confidential information about their work. Meanwhile, at least 15 journalists were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Methodology (read rest here)
Spoiler:

How we scored countries
Each question in the questionnaire is linked to one of six overall criteria categories and each answer is weighted according to a system that generates a score of between 0 and 100 for each of the categories. A seventh score for acts of violence and harassment during the period assessed is compiled by
Reporters Without Borders.

These are the seven criteria categories used since the 2013 index:
• Pluralism [indicator scorePlur]
Measures the degree to which opinions are represented in the media
• Media independence [indicator scoreInd]
Measures the degree to which the media are able to function independently of sources of political, governmental,
business and religious power and influence
• Environment and self-censorship [indicator scoreEA]
Analyses the environment in which journalists and other news and information providers operate
• Legislative framework [indicator scoreCL]
Analyses the impact of the legislative framework governing news and information activities
• Transparency [indicator scoreTra]
Measures the transparency of the institutions and procedures that affect the production of news and information
• Infrastructure [indicator scoreInf]
Measures the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information
• Abuses [indicator scoreExa]
Measures the level of violence and harassment during the period assessed


USA #49 out of 180, in World press freedom rankings