In the more optimistic 1990s, one of the pet assumptions was that in the information age governments would have to relax restrictions on the flow of information or their country would lag behind. We now take a more realistic view of the situation, but even so, Freedom House's "2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence" constitutes discouraging reading.
According to the study, the level of repression has leveled off but this comes after five consecutive years in which repression intensified. Only one out of every six persons, or 16 percent, of the global population lives in a country with a free press. The study defines the term as robust coverage of political news, guaranteed safety for journalists, minimal state intrusion in media affairs and the absence of onerous legal or economic pressures on the press.
According to the study, negative trends actually intensified in countries such as China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela. What is worse is that these countries also tried to restrict freedom of the press beyond their borders. One can add that these countries have also added their own media outlets, frequently hiring ex-journalists to provide a veneer of sophistication and credibility.
Repression has become more elegant as governments use licensing and regulatory frameworks to tighten the screws. This means that there are less private radio and television outlets to challenge the official media. The once vaunted Internet has either been appropriated by authoritarian governments or has been severely restricted; this also applies to social media like Facebook.
Repression is not only the work of governments. Nonstate factors, such as the Mexican drug cartels, harass the press and murder reporters.
The reports described a particularly sorry state in China and Russia.
In China, the editors receive party directives and curb coverage on issues such as public health, environmental accidents and police brutality.
Russia is considered a country that employs what Vladimir Putin once called 'the dictatorship of the law' to prosecute independent journalists. This is sometimes accompanied by physical harassment and outright murder. The result is increased self-censorship by reporters
Israel placed in the lower tier of countries with a Free Press but the reason was that the report' complained that journalists in what the report terms Israeli-Occupied Territories/Palestinian Authority were subject to pressure and threats from both major Palestinian political factions. There were also limitations from Israeli forces operating in certain areas. In other words, Israel loses points on press freedom due to Palestinian repression and not because of its own actions.