Media

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published its second annual world press freedom ranking, criticizing Israel and the United States for unacceptable behavior toward journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Iraq. RSF also criticized Arab countries for cracking down on media freedoms, but said standards were worst in Asia. Its worst ranking went to North Korea, followed by Cuba, which it said is "today the world's biggest prison for journalists."

"The Bush administration, displeased with the news coverage of the war in Iraq, has accelerated efforts to bypass the national media by telling the administration's story directly to the American public," the Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes. In an "unprecedented effort to reach news organizations that do not regularly cover the White House," Bush did five eight-minute interviews with regional broadcasters yesterday.

The Los Angeles Times is facing a firestorm of criticism from supporters of Arnold Schwarzenegger who have accused the newspaper of showing bias against their candidate by publishing women's complaints that Schwarzenegger sexually harassed them. "Regrets? Not one," responds Times editor John Carroll. "Personally, I knew the stories were solid as Gibraltar. ... Among those employees whose misfortune it is to answer the phones at The Times, there is a consensus that our angriest critics haven't actually read the stories.

One of America's leading newspaper executives took the Bush administration to task Wednesday for what he termed an "unsettling trend toward governmental secrecy." Tony Ridder is chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, the industry's largest and most important trade organization. Speaking at an October 8 luncheon at the National Press Club, Ridder said the current fear, frustration and anger felt by many veteran journalists in the nation's capital is "unprecedented, even going back to the dark days of Watergate."