World press freedom ranked, BBC (UK), October 23, 2002 "This is the first time press freedom has been ranked The international journalism pressure group Reporters Without Borders has published a list judging 139 countries on their respect for press freedom. At the top of the list are Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands. North Korea, China and Burma are at the other end of the scale. There are some surprises for Western governments - the United States ranks below Costa Rica and Italy scores lower than Benin ... The US' 17th place was lowered because of the number of journalists arrested for refusing to reveal their sources, the report says ... Elsewhere, the organisation places the Palestinian Authority (82) higher than Israel (92) in terms of press freedom. Israel's ranking was hurt by what the pressure group claims are 'a large number of violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights' in the West Bank and Gaza." [Iraq is listed at the bottom, at 130]