VOA常速英语2007-Eritrea Ranked Last in Worldwide Press Freedom S

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
16 October 2007

A new survey on press freedom ranks the isolated¹ nation of Eritrea worst among 169 countries. As Nick Wadhams reports from Nairobi, the Horn of Africa country gained the dubious² distinction after four reporters were said to have died in prison.

 

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says President Isias Afewerki's government has outlawed³ the privately⁴ owned press and continues to jail reporters who speak out.

The situation has become so dire⁵ since the beginning of a crackdown in 2001 that several reporters have tried to escape Eritrea on foot. Last year, nine reporters were said to have been arrested, and later were allegedly tortured until they revealed the passwords to their e-mail accounts.

Reporters Without Borders says the few journalists who criticize the government are sent to prison camps. The group says four have died in detention⁶.

"The journalists who were jailed are the most prominent figures of what was the independent press before 2001, they are editors, directors, writers, playwrights⁷, the men who were animating⁸ the intellectual life of this small country," said Leonard Vincent, the Reporters Without Borders Africa Desk director. "After 2001 the authorities have started to crack down on anybody who wanted either to go out of the country or who had started to criticize the government or who had crossed the line of the tolerance⁹ of the government."

 

Eritrea's government has rejected the findings from Reporters Without Borders. Information Minister Ali Abdu tells VOA News that both local and international reporters are allowed to work freely in the country.

"It's rubbish, it's ridiculous, and I wouldn't like to respond to that ridiculous statement. There are a number of journalists coming here from everywhere in the world and asking whatever they want to ask," said Abdu. "You are the victim of misinformation."

In its 2006 press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders found that Turkmenistan and North Korea ranked worse than Eritrea. They are now ranked third and second to last.

Overall, Iceland ranked best.

Vincent of Reporters Without Borders says it is impossible to generalize about the African continent because there is such a wide range in freedom among its 52 countries.

"You have the best and the worst. The situation is improving in the sphere of influence of South Africa, in Botswana and Namibia, things are quite like they are in northern Europe," said Vincent. "I mean there are problems, but they are not as grave or important as they are in Zimbabwe or The Gambia or Sudan or places where political violence is very high."

Mauritius and Namibia were the highest-ranking African nations, sharing the 25th slot. The United States was ranked number 48.

Reporters Without Borders says across the world there was no noticeable improvement in press freedom.

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

3 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

4 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

5 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

6 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

7 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

8 animating   

v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命

参考例句：

• Nature has her animating spirit as well as man who is nature's child. 大自然就象它的孩子――人类一样，有活生生的灵魂。 来自辞典例句
• They were doubtlessly the animating principle of many hours that superficially seemed vacant. 在表面看来无所事事的许多时刻中，它们无疑是活跃的因素。 来自辞典例句

9 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。