Questionnaire for compiling the 2010 Press Freedom Index
The period runs from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010
Give as many examples as possible. Answers must be limited to events that took place during this period.
Physical violence
Answer Yes or No to each question. During this period, were there any cases of journalists:
- Being tortured or mistreated during detention
- Being kidnapped or disappearing?
- Being illegally detained (without an arrest warrant, for longer than the maximum period of police custody, without a court appearance etc)?
- Fleeing the country as a result of threats?
- Armed militias or clandestine organisations regularly targeting journalists?
- Journalists who had to have bodyguards or use security measures (such as wearing bullet-proof vests or using armour-plated vehicles) in the course of their work?
- Were killed in connection with their work?
- Were killed in situations in which authorities (police, soldiers, central or local government officials, ruling party activists etc) were involved?
- Were detained or jailed (for more than 24 hours)?
- Were still in prison at the end of this period as a result of receiving a long jail sentence (more than a year) for a press offence?
- Were physically attacked or injured?
- Did representatives of the state carry out any or all of these acts of violence?
- Yes
- No - In the above cases, did the authorities do their best to punish those responsible for these press freedom violations? Give a score from 0 (no effort by the authorities to punish those responsible) to 5 (determined efforts by the authorities to punish those responsible).
- Or did the authorities take steps to prevent those responsible for these press freedom violations from being prosecuted (for example, by blocking investigations or postponing trials indefinitely)? Give examples.
- Surveillance of journalists by the state (were any journalists’ phones tapped, were any journalists followed etc)?
- Journalists employed by privately-owned media being forced to stop working because of political pressure or threats?
- Journalists being prevented from working because of their gender, origin, sexual orientation or religion ?
- Serious difficulty accessing public or official information (such as a refusal by officials to provide information, information being provided selectively, according to the media’s editorial position)?
- Restrictions on access to or coverage of any region or regions in the country (including an outright ban or strict government controls)?
- Foreign journalists deported or prevented from entering the country?
- How many news media were censored, had issues seized or had their premises ransacked?
- Were all the media subjected to systematic prior censorship (control before publication)? And if so, name the body that exercised this censorship function:
- Widespread self-censorship in the privately-owned media? Give a score from 0 (no self-censorship) to 5 (a great deal of self-censorship) ?
- Important news that was suppressed or not covered because of political or business pressure? Give examples.
- Frequent investigative reporting on sensitive subjects?
- a) Are there privately-owned TV stations in your country?
- a) Are there privately-owned radio stations in your country?
- Are there privately-owned printing and distribution companies?
- Government control of what the state-owned media publish or broadcast?
- Unjustified dismissals of journalists in the state-owned media?
- Opposition access to state-owned media? Give a score from 0 (no access at all) to 5 (free and fair access).
- Independent news media operating in the country (excluding media based abroad)
- Unjustified or improper use of fines, summonses or legal action against journalists or media outlets?
- Violations of the confidentiality of journalistic sources (by such means as investigation, interrogation or legal action)?
- Use of the withdrawal of advertising to pressure media (in which the government or state agencies stop buying advertising space or the authorities pressure private firms into doing this)?
- A requirement to obtain a government licence in order to start up a newspaper or magazine?
- A transparent and fair process for allocating broadcast frequencies?
- Serious threats to news diversity, including threats resulting from narrow ownership of media outlets? Give a score from 0 (no threat) to 5 (very serious threat to media diversity).
- A government takeover of any privately-owned media during this period, either directly or through government-controlled firms?
- Do the authorities control Internet service providers directly or indirectly?
- Cases of access to websites being blocked by filtering mechanisms or being closed down by the authorities? Evaluate the level of this censorship on a scale of 0 (no censorship) to 5 (total censorship).
- Cases of cyber-dissidents or bloggers being detained for more than a day? How many?
- Cases of independent websites being the target of cyber-attack or counter-information campaigns?
During this period, were there (Yes/No):
Number of journalists murdered, detained, physically attacked or threatened, and role of authorities in this
During this period, how many journalists, media assistants or press freedom activists:
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Indirect threats, harassment and access to information
During this period, were there any cases of (Yes/No):
Censorship and self-censorship
During this period, was there (Yes/No):
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Control of media
b) If so, are they free to determine their own editorial policies?
b) If so, are they free to determine their own editorial policies?
During this period, was there or were there (Yes/No):
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Give an estimate of the number of:
- 0
- 0 to 5
. 6 to 50
- More than 50
Judicial, business and administrative pressure
During this period, was there or were there (Yes/No):
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Internet and new media
During this period, was there or were there (Yes/No):
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Are there any points not included in this questionnaire that might be relevant for assessing the press freedom situation in your country? Please mention them.
If there are questions that give rise to doubts on your part (about their applicability to your country or the accuracy of your answer), please list them and say why (for example, lack of data, wording that seems ambiguous or wording that does not correspond to the situation in your country).
