Among Costa Rica’s fun accomplishments such as Inventors of the Zipline Tour, Discoverers of a lizard who breathes underwater, Creators of the catchy salutation “Pura Vida”, Owners of the title of “Happiest Country on the Planet” – comes a truly serious and remarkable achievement. Costa Rica ranks tenth in Press Freedom, as ranked by the prestigious Reporters Without Borders, a French nonprofit organization which evaluates countries by how they treat journalists.

Costa Rica placed ahead of France, Germany, England, Canada – and WAY ahead of USA who came in at 48th place. Uruguay placed 18th, and Costa Rica and Uruguay were the only Latin countries to place in the top twenty. The study pointed out how commendable Costa Rica’s efforts are in an era where journalists continue to be kidnapped, killed, and silenced by hostile governments.
The report stated about Costa Rica, “It is an exception in a region corroded by corruption, insecurity and daily violence against the press. The journalists of the country can exercise their profession quietly and have a solid legal framework in terms of freedom of expression. In Costa Rica there are very few cases of attacks or intimidation against journalists.”

Reporters Without Borders ranked Press Freedom in 180 countries. They noted this year an increase in hostility against journalists, including hatred and taunts by political leaders. The report indicates that America was the region with the greatest deterioration of Press Freedom with threats and attacks, especially in USA and Brazil.
The Top Ten countries for Press Freedom in 2019 are, in order: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Belgium, and Costa Rica.

Costa Rica holds its own among countries much more powerful and internationally recognized as intellectually sophisticated. That’s something to truly be happy about in 2019. Pura Vida.

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