Travel tips: Being tortured or mistreated during detention? That's a +2

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So You Want To Be A Foreign Correspondent?

An annual list of the countries around the globe ranked by the level of safety afforded to journalists has just been released. If you have to ask for the answers to these question, you might not want to go that country. The worst of the worst, Eritrea, with North Korea a close second.

Hats off to those willing to assume the risks in some of these countries while attempting to get the stories out.

The higher the score for a country, the less desirable that destination may be for your itinerary. Some examples of questions and the values placed on yes answers:

Were journalists being kidnapped or disappearing: Yes = +3

Were journalists killed in connection with their work: Yes; Sliding scale up to +10

Foreign journalists deported or prevented from entering the country: Yes = +2

Journalists fleeing the country as a result of threats: Yes = +2

Do journalists need bodyguards or have to wear bullet-proof vests: Yes = +2

Were journalists still in prison with sentences of more than a year for press offenses: Yes; Sliding scale up to +20

The Most Dangerous Countries For Journalists Are?

101	Armenia	27,50
-	Ecuador	27,50
103	Bolivia	28,13
104	Angola	28,50
-	Montenegro	28,50
-	Niger	28,50
107	Gabon	28,75
108	Burundi	28,88
109	Peru	30,00
110	Djibouti	30,50
111	Samoa	33,00	nc
112	Chad	33,17
113	Guinea	33,50
114	Congo	33,60
115	Tajikistan	34,50
116	Madagascar	34,88
117	Indonesia	35,83
118	Côte d’Ivoire	36,00
119	Nepal	36,38
120	Jordan	37,00
121	Qatar	38,00
122	India	38,75
123	Zimbabwe	39,50
124	Oman	40,25
125	Gambia	40,50
126	Bangladesh	42,50
127	Egypt	43,33
128	Cambodia	43,83
129	Cameroon	44,30
130	Iraq	45,58
131	Ukraine	46,83
132	Israel (extra-territorial)	47,00
133	Algeria	47,33
-	Venezuela	47,33
135	Morocco	47,40
136	Mexico	47,50
-	Singapore	47,50
138	Turkey	49,25
139	Ethiopia	49,38
140	Russia	49,90
141	Malaysia	50,75
142	Brunei	51,00
143	Honduras	51,13
144	Bahrein	51,38
145	Colombia	51,50
-	Nigeria	51,50
147	Afghanistan	51,67
148	Democratic Republic of Congo	51,83
149	Fiji	52,75
150	Palestinian Territories	56,13
151	Pakistan	56,17
152	Azerbaijan	56,38
153	Thailand	56,83
154	Belarus	57,00
155	Swaziland	57,50
156	Philippines	60,00
157	Saudi Arabia	61,50
158	Sri Lanka	62,50
159	Kyrgyzstan	63,00
160	Libya	63,50
161	Somalia	66,00
162	Kazakhstan	68,50
163	Uzbekistan	71,50
164	Tunisia	72,50
165	Vietnam	75,75
166	Cuba	78,00
167	Equatorial Guinea	79,00
168	Laos	80,50
169	Rwanda	81,00
170	Yemen	82,13
171	China	84,67
172	Sudan	85,33
173	Syria	91,50
174	Burma	94,50
175	Iran	94,56
176	Turkmenistan	95,33
177	North Korea	104,75
178	Eritrea	105,00

From Reporters Without Borders