28 the number for Australia's press freedoms

Australia was 28 in the 2008 world press freedom index of Reporters Without Borders released this week. No change from last year, another indication of slow progress on the package of promised reforms (for example FOI, whistleblowers protection, shield laws for journalists) and of some of the extreme provisions in our anti-terror laws.The Australian report for 2008 is here.

With a brilliant sense of timing given their current place in the news, Iceland was first.Some of our usual comparators: New Zealand equal 7, Canada 13, United Kingdom 23 and US equal 36 (an improvement on last year but with with 135 countries ahead in the rankings.)