U.S. is 'satisfactory' on press freedom

PARIS, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The United States ranks 36th out of 173 countries in press freedom this year, Reporters Without Borders said.

The ranking is 12 places above last year's grade, the group said, adding that the United States earned a "satisfactory" label for press freedom.

Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris.

The anti-censorship group also said it sent letters to the major party U.S. presidential nominees, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, urging them to better protect freedom of the press and "to announce concrete steps to guarantee the American people's right to be informed."

In the letters, the group added "recent years have proven that even in the United States, where we take pride in guarantees of personal freedoms including freedom of expression and press, those rights are nonetheless vulnerable to incursion if we are not vigilant and active in protecting them."

The letters ask whether "Senator Obama will continue his stance on voting to limit ... cross-media ownership while requesting for Senator McCain's clarification on his 'position regarding media ownership and pledge to protect a free, independent and diverse media pool,'" the group said.

The group said it is denouncing the "deplorable treatment" of "journalists working in dangerous areas under U.S. control or where the U.S. forces are present," including "journalists who have been wrongfully imprisoned in both Iraq and Afghanistan."

In a separate ranking referring to press freedoms outside its own territory, the United States earned a 119th ranking and a "poor" grade, mostly because of journalists detained in Iraq and Afghanistan, the group said.