In 1780, John Adams wrote, “The liberty of the press is essential to the security
of freedom”. Countries with the worst human rights abuses tend to pass laws prohibiting
the publication and consumption of dissenting opinions. Freedom of the press is so important,
it is written into the US’s First Amendment, but not all countries share this view. So,
what are the countries with the worst censorship policies?
In recent years, media watchdog groups have repeatedly pointed to the African country
of Eritrea as having the most aggressively restrictive press censorship. Eritrea has
used a sort of state of emergency concerning their border dispute with Ethiopia in order
to force independent media outlets to close, and arrest journalists. This is unsurprising
in light of the fact that Eritrea has one of the worst human rights records in the world,
with religious persecution, indefinite military conscription, and until recently, female genital
mutilation as just a few of their problems. But since 2000, 23 journalists have been jailed
without being charged, and several have reportedly died in custody. Less than 1 percent of citizens
have internet access, and even that is filtered through the country’s only telecommunications
company.
The next worst offender is North Korea, unsurprisingly. Information in the Hermit Kingdom is known
to be tightly controlled, and massively misinformed. Their exclusively state-run media makes claims
like “North Korea Leads the World in Human Rights” while having among the worst human
rights record in the world. Additionally, access to the internet is rare, and unrestricted
cell phones are prohibited. Some residents are able to access the country’s internal
internet which is a collection of several thousand government curated websites designed
to spread propaganda.
Saudi Arabia is also a big proponent of punishing dissent. As a monarchy, the country uses royal
decrees and anti-terrorism scares to outlaw any criticism of the government or Islam.
They use an absentee court to pass harsh sentences without the defendant even being present.
They also monitor web traffic, blocking any sites that are incompatible with state positions.
In 2011, they passed a law forcing all online bloggers and news organizations to apply for
a license in order to continue operating.
China is also well known for it’s strict and aggressive internet censorship, and holds
the largest number of jailed journalists, 44 in 2014. Vietnam’s government has strict
laws that dictate all media should be used as a mouthpiece for the country’s Communist
party. Bloggers are kept under supervision, attacked in the street, and regularly arrested.
As reported by the Freedom of the Press index, only about 14% of the world lives in a country
with a truly unrestricted press, mostly in North America, Europe, and Australia. The
worst are found in Africa and Asia. Luckily, in many restrictive countries, residents use
clandestine means to gain and report information from the outside world. Despite the harsh
punishments they face, it’s clear that people will find a way to get informed.
In 2009, while I was held captive in North Korea, I was allowed to watch some television
with my guards and I got an inside look at what the country’s media was really like.
While they did have shows related to exercise, cooking and even the American cartoon Tom
& Jerry, the majority of programming was devoted to government propaganda.
To learn more about what got me through that very difficult time please click below to
watch my new series Rituals. Thanks so much for watching, and don’t forget to subscribe.