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PM Welcomes St. Lucia’s Top World Ranking for Press Freedom

Freedom House releases global Press Freedom survey…

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 - Prime Minister Dr Kenny D. Anthony says St. Lucia’s recent high world ranking for Press Freedom was one of the positive results of the Government’s consistent policy of respect for Freedom of Expression and tolerance of criticism.

Commenting on the results of a global survey of political rights and civil liberties in over two hundred independent and disputed territories last year by a major international monitoring agency, the Prime Minister said the country’s top ratings also defied claims at home that the Government is out to stifle or muzzle the press and that it introduced legislation to jail journalists for speaking and writing.

Dr. Anthony was commenting on the results of the latest annual survey by Freedom House, a respected international monitoring body with offices in New York and Washington and with branches on both sides of the Atlantic.

In its latest report on the State of Press Freedom in 192 Independent countries and 18 related and disputed territories across the globe, Freedom House ranked St. Lucia as having the ninth highest ranking in Press Freedom throughout the world. 

The report (which can be found at the organization’s website www.freedomhouse.org) is entitled: “Freedom in the World 2004” and documents events from January 1 to November 30, 2003. It was published in New York on September 23, 2004.

According to Freedom House in a Press Release accompanying the report: “Countries are assigned ratings… based on thorough research and analysis and on the survey’s rigorous methodology.” The survey results are documented in detailed charts, tables and graphs depicting individual country scores, regional breakdowns and social and economic indicators.

According to the survey’s findings, the only countries with higher rankings than St. Lucia were Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Of these, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden tied for first place.

The survey ranks St. Lucia higher than any other country in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific or the Caribbean. The only countries that placed before St. Lucia are in Europe, except for New Zealand.

Freedom House ranked St. Lucia higher than the United States of America, which ranked fifteenth (15^th) in the worldwide survey. St. Lucia also placed higher than any other country in North, South or Central America.

Commenting Tuesday (November 2), the Prime Minister, who is also responsible for the Information portfolio, welcomed the news and reiterated the Government “will continue to engage with the Press and to respect the people’s inalienable rights of Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Information.”

He added: “It is our intention to continue to respect the plurality of the media and to provide the stable climate for its growth, development and expansion.

“We shall also continue to respect the views of our critics and to encourage free and responsible expression of public opinion in the state-run media.”

Prime Minister Anthony reiterated however, that “where the Government considers it has been misrepresented, it will continue to exercise our right of reply in order to establish the truth.”

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