How mighty is the pen?

Reporters without Borders has released the Press Freedom Index – an indicator on how various nations crack down on unwanted news sources. Freedom of the press is a fundamental cornerstone to successful democracy, as it allows people to become aware about what is going on in the world they live in. And, as usual, the press is one area that certain governments have a vested interest in controlling. Particularly notable are the following two comments on the summary:

The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

Within the European Union, the index reflects a continuation of the very marked distinction between countries such as Finland and Netherlands that have always had a good evaluation and countries such as Bulgaria (80th), Greece (70th) and Italy (61st) that fail to address the issue of their media freedom violations, above all because of a lack of political will.