ASSA-Irada,
8, May 2008

Azerbaijan is among countries where the public is seeking Internet freedom the most, a US university has revealed.

According to the study conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland in 20 nations, 79% of respondents in Azerbaijan endorse the right to full Internet access. Another majority-Muslim country - Indonesia - also endorsed this right, with 65% of those polled supporting Internet freedom.

Overall, the public in Middle East nations concurs with this view. The figure is 65% in Egypt, 52% in the Palestinian Territories and 60% in Turkey. The indicator was 74% in the United States, 72.5% in Nigeria, and 57% in Russia.

Though majorities in all countries but Jordan and Iran favor the right, there is also significant minority support for some government control of access to information on the Internet in France (44%), the Palestinian Territories (44%), India (36%), and Great Britain (35%).

Majorities in Jordan (66%), Palestine (59%), and Indonesia (56%) support government control of the media when the government thinks that publishing some things might be politically destabilizing. In Iran a plurality (45%) supports government control under such circumstances (31% feel the media should be able to publish freely). Views are divided in Russia (45% to 44%), Egypt (49% to 52%), and Turkey (45% to 42%).

Half of respondents said the Internet should be censorship-free. 53% of those polled said the media should be able to report any ideas or information without state control. Those countries with strong majorities continuing to favor media freedom even when it may be destabilizing include Peru (83%), Poland (78%), Mexico (77%), the US (72%), South Korea (72%), Nigeria (71%), France (70%), and Great Britain (69%). Smaller majorities or pluralities in three other countries also prefer media freedom over government control: Ukraine (59%), Azerbaijan (55%), China (53%) and India (42%).

In China, a country whose Internet censorship policies have received a great deal of international attention, 71 percent of the public say that "people should have the right to read whatever is on the Internet:" Only 21 percent of Chinese endorse their government's right to limit access.

The only two publics to not endorse full access are Jordan and Iran. In Jordan 63 percent support government regulation of the Internet as do 44 percent in Iran (32% favor unlimited access).

30% of respondents said there was full media freedom in their countries, while 5% said it was virtually non-existent.

The broader principle of media freedom gets very robust support. Majorities in all nations asked say that it is important "for the media to be free to publish news and ideas without government control."

On average 82 percent say it is "important," with 53 percent saying it is "very important." In no country do more than 29 percent say that media freedom is "not very important" or "not important at all." The ten countries with a majority calling for more freedom include Mexico (75%), Nigeria (70%), China (66%), South Korea (65%), Egypt (64%), the Palestinian Territories (62%), Azerbaijan (57%), Jordan (56%), Indonesia (53%), and Peru (51%).

Those countries where very few citizens polled say that there is "a lot" of media freedom also get low rankings among the 169 countries in the RSF index: Palestine 158th, China 163rd, Azerbaijan 139th, Nigeria 131st, Iran 166th, and Ukraine 92nd, the poll said.

Overall, the poll finds worldwide support for the principle of media freedom and broad opposition to government having the right to limit access to the Internet. In many countries people want more media freedom than they have now, but in many Muslim countries and in Russia, there is substantial support for regulation of news or ideas that the government thinks could be politically destabilizing.

The poll was published in advance of International Press Freedom Day, May 3. This year is also the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which calls for freedom to "receive and impart information and ideas through any media." The poll of 18,122 respondents was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative research project involving research centers from around the world and managed by PIPA. Polling was conducted between January 10 and March 20.