Africa

Eritrea

{This graph represents scores that have been modified by CIMA so that higher scores indicate a better media situation. It is intended to show trends over time; each index measures significantly different factors of press freedom. To see an explanation for how this graph was created, click here.}

IREX Score: 0.16	[IREX Methodology]
{Higher is Better, Score Ranges from 0 to 4.00}

IREX Description:

The outlook for the media in Eritrea is too bleak to even provide the most rudimentary indicators of sustainability. In previous MSI studies, Eritrea scored the lowest of all countries studied, and it seemed hard to imagine how the situation could get any worse. Yet again in 2009, Eritrea has been blighted by more negative developments.

State-run media—the only existing media for the past nine years—dispenses only entertainment programs and news that flatters the government. Coverage of events or news that questions or criticizes the government is censored as a threat to national security. Some foreign-based radio broadcasts and websites are blocked, and the government's active network of secret services monitors e-mail and other communications. Government-sponsored newspapers, magazines, or websites largely restrict coverage to issues of Eritrea's sovereignty, national unity, self-reliance, and development projects.

Yet in 2009, so much more has happened in Eritrea, such as UN sanctions on Eritrea for its role in arming anti-government forces in Somalia and its military incursion into Djibouti. Also, an international conference on the role of US and EU policy on Eritrea, organized by the European External Panel of Advisors (EEPA) in Brussels, drew participation from a number of Eritreans and officials from Europe, the United States, and Africa. Topics included in the discussions were the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, the need to strengthen Eritrean civil society, and gross violations of human rights being committed in Eritrea. Both events stirred debate among Eritreans while highlighting the gravity of the increasingly intractable Eritrean predicament.

In the face of relentless government control on literally all sectors of social activity, news critical of the government or events such as the EEPA conference can only be reported from sources based outside Eritrea. Despite the shutdown of independent media inside Eritrea in September 2001, diaspora media have gradually risen over the past 10 years. Eritreans living abroad—individuals, civic and religious organizations, activists, political groups, entrepreneurs, writers, and poets—use the Internet for blogging, radio, video, music, chat rooms, polling, campaigning, information sharing, and organizing events and demonstrations in "democratic" countries. The Internet has become the main hub to communicate, raise, and debate issues. However, a free Internet is unavailable to most within Eritrea.

Overall, Eritrea has no sustainable independent media infrastructure and does not exhibit any intention to set up, invite, and improve the conditions for establishing and encouraging a culture of independent media.

Read more on Freedom House’s site…

RSF Score: 105.	[RSF Methodology]
{Lower is Better, Score Ranges from 0 to ~120}

Reporters Without Borders Description:

Eritrea, which has been led since independence by the highly authoritarian Issaias Afeworki, figures in last place on Reporters Without Borders’ world press freedom index. The country has been cut off from the outside world since the terrible roundups of September 2001 and at least four journalists have died in prison, unknown and forgotten, while the situation goes from bad to worse.

The public media in Eritrea do nothing but relay the regime’s belligerent and ultra-nationalist discourse. Closely watched by Ali Abdu, staff on public Eri-TV, radio Dimtsi Hafash (The Voice of the Masses) and the government daily Hadas Eritrea have been turned into enthusiastic official purveyors of government propaganda. No divergence is tolerated. Like scores of their fellow citizens who flee the country each month, many journalists working in the public media can no longer bear the gagging imposed on them by the government and go into exile. Most leave on foot at risk of being shot dead by border patrols who have received the order to shoot on sight. The very few foreign correspondents in the country have slowly been driven out as a result of harassment or intimidation, or simply through expulsion. Not a single one now lives in Asmara.

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Eritrea

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Freedom House Score: 94 (Not Free)	[Freedom House Methodology]
{Lower is Better, Score Ranges from 0 to 100}