Kigali-based blogger Graham Holliday reacts to this week’s release of the 2010 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Rwanda fell 12 places from its ranking in 2009 to 169th out of 178 countries.
The reasons behind its position are not all warranted, he says:
There are problems with the Rwandan press. Media emanating from Rwanda is almost universally uncritical of power, while the blogs and commentators outside the country are almost universally critical of power. The reality is that things are not all bad and they’re not all good. In that respect, Rwanda is just like anywhere else.
Self-censorship is probably the biggest and most unquantifiable problem here, which relates directly to a key question, especially for foreign correspondents – how do you write about this country and manage to remain fair and balanced?