The top predators against free media

Reporters Without Borders has a great page that identifies the top predators in the world against free and independent media.

Thirty-eight heads of state and warlords sow terror among journalists

The list is the usual group of anti-freedom government types: Hu Jintao, Raul Castro and Kim Jong-il.

There are also the Arab country leaders who are fighting against the Arab Spring uprisings such as Muammar Gaddafi and King Hamad Ben Aissa Al Khalifa in Bahrain.

Iran is so dedicated to controlling the press that it has two identified predators: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei.

Besides the government leaders noted above, the RSF also looked at private groups and non-state political entities such as Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, the Mexican drug cartels and Colombian militias.

All in all this is an interesting (but not surprising) rouges gallery of anti-free media people and organizations. And to tell you how BAD these guys are, they topped off the list in such a way that Venezuela did not make the list. (And we all know the Hugo Chavez government is no friend of independent media.)