Today is World Press Freedom Day:

Gagged, stifled SILENCED

The 10 most censored countries in the world:

Eritrea and North Korea are the first and second most censored countries worldwide, according to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists of the 10 countries where the press is most restricted. The list is based on research into the use of tactics ranging from imprisonment and repressive laws to harassment of journalists and restrictions on Internet access.

To keep their grip on power, repressive regimes use a combination of media monopoly, harassment, spying, threats of journalists' imprisonment, and restriction of journalists' entry into or movements within their countries.

Eritrea

Leadership: President Isaias Afewerki, in power since 1993.

How censorship works: Only state media is allowed to disseminate news; the last accredited international correspondent was expelled in 2007.

Even those working for the heavily censored state press live in constant fear of arrest for any report perceived as critical to the ruling party, or on suspicion that they leaked information outside the country.

The last privately owned media outlets were suspended and their journalists jailed in 2001. Many remain behind bars; Eritrea has the most jailed journalists in Africa. None of those arrested are taken to court, and the fear of arrest has forced dozens of journalists into exile.

Those in exile try to provide access to independent online news websites and radio broadcasts, but the opportunity to do so is limited because of signal jamming and tight online control by the sole state-run telecommunications company, EriTel. All mobile communications must go through EriTel, and all Internet service providers must use the government-controlled gateway. Access to the Internet is extremely limited and available only through slow dial-up connections. Less than one percent of the population goes online, according to U.N. International Telecommunication Union figures.

North Korea

Leadership: Kim Jong Un, who took over after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011.

How censorship works: Article 53 of the country's constitution calls for freedom of the press, but even with an Associated Press bureau-staffed by North Koreans and located in the Pyongyang headquarters of the State-run Korean Central News Agency-and a small foreign press corps from politically sympathetic countries, access to independent news sources is extremely limited.

Nearly all the content of North Korea's 12 main newspapers, 20 periodicals, and broadcasters come from the official Korean Central News Agency, which focuses on the political leadership's statements and activities. Internet is restricted to the political elite, but some schools and state institutions have access to a tightly controlled intranet called Kwangmyong.

North Koreans looking for independent information have turned to bootlegged foreign TV and radio signals and smuggled foreign DVDs, particularly along the porous border with China. Although cell phones are banned, some citizens have been able in recent years to access news through smuggled phones, which rely on Chinese cell towers.

South Korean newspapers have reported that North Korea in 2013 started manufacturing smartphones that run on a network built by the Egyptian company Orascom and the State-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corp.

Saudi Arabia

Leadership: King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who took power in January 2015 after the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah

How censorship works: The Saudi Government has progressively intensified legal repression since the Arab Spring.

Amendments to the Press Law in 2011 punished the publication of any materials deemed to contravene Sharia, impinge on State interests, promote foreign interests, harm public order or national security, or enable criminal activity.

In 2014, the government issued a new anti-terrorism law and regulations that Human Rights Watch said will "criminalise virtually any expression or association critical of the government and its understanding of Islam."

The law granted the Specialised Criminal Court, established in 2008, the ability to hear unchallenged testimony while the defendant or the defendant's lawyer is absent.

The General Commission for Audiovisual Media said in April 2014 that it will monitor online and YouTube content to ensure that Saudi contributors, among the largest audience for the online video-sharing site, adhere to government guidelines. YouTube is used by many Saudis to address controversial issues, such as women driving, and to document events not covered in the media. Saudi Arabia also used its regional influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council to pass restrictions that prevent media in Member States from criticising the leadership of other Member States.

Ethiopia

Leadership: Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in power since September 2012

How censorship works: As Ethiopia prepared for its May 2015 elections, the State systematically cracked down on the country's remaining independent publications through the arrests of journalists and intimidation of printing and distribution companies.

Filing lawsuits against editors and forcing publishers to cease production have left only a handful of independent publications in a country of more than 90 million people. Ten independent journalists and bloggers were imprisoned in 2014; authorities filed a lawsuit in August accusing six publications of "encouraging terrorism," forcing at least 16 journalists to flee into exile.

There are no independent broadcasters, though broadcasts from the US-based opposition Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) intermittently air within the country.

The state-controlled telecommunications company, Ethio Telecom, is the sole Internet provider and routinely suspends critical news websites. International journalists work in Ethiopia, but many are under surveillance and face harassment. Although journalists have not had difficulties acquiring accreditation in the past, newer arrivals say that they face challenges.

Azerbaijan

Leadership: President Ilham Aliyev has been in power since October 2003, after being named successor by his father.

How censorship works: The main sources of information in Azerbaijan are broadcasters, which are owned and controlled by the State or its proxies. International broadcasters are barred or their satellite signals are jammed. Critical print outlets have been subjected to harassment from officials, including debilitating lawsuits, evictions, a ban on foreign funding and advisories to businesses against advertising.

Online speech is subject to self-censorship because of a criminal defamation law that carries a six-month prison sentence. News and social media websites are blocked arbitrarily.

At least 10 journalists and bloggers, including the award-winning reporter Khadija Ismayilova, are in Azerbaijani jails. Several critical journalists fled the country in 2014, and those remaining faced attacks and harassment, were banned from travelling, or were prosecuted on fabricated charges.

Vietnam

Leadership: Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has been in power since 2006.

How censorship works: Vietnam's Communist Party-run government allows no privately held print or broadcast outlets. Under the 1999 Media Law, all media working in Vietnam must serve as "the mouthpiece of Party organisations."

The Central Propaganda Department holds mandatory weekly meetings with local newspaper, radio, and TV editors to hand down directives on which topics should be emphasized or censored in their news coverage.

Forbidden topics include the activities of political dissidents and activists; factional divisions inside the Communist Party; human rights issues; and any mention of ethnic differences between the country's once-divided northern and southern regions.

Independent bloggers who report on sensitive issues have faced persecution through street-level attacks, arbitrary arrests, surveillance and harsh prison sentences for anti-state charges.

Vietnam is one of the world's worst jailers of journalists, with at least 16 behind bars. Authorities widely block access to websites critical of the government, including such popular foreign-hosted blogs as Danlambao, which covers politics, human rights issues, and disputes with China. In September 2013, a new law extended state censorship to social media platforms, making it illegal to post any material, including foreign news articles, deemed to "oppose the state" or "harm national security."

Iran

Leadership: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been supreme leader since 1989. Hassan Rouhani has been President since August 2013.

How censorship works: The government uses mass and arbitrary detention as a means of silencing dissent and forcing journalists into exile.

Iran became the world's leading jailer of journalists in 2009 and has been ranked among the world's worst jailers of the press every year since.

Iranian authorities maintain one of the toughest Internet censorship regimes in the world, blocking millions of websites, including news and social networking sites.

They are suspected of using sophisticated techniques, such as setting up fake versions of popular websites and search engines and the regime frequently jams satellite signals.

The situation for the press has not improved under Rouhani despite the hopes of UN Member States and human rights groups. Rouhani also failed to uphold his campaign promise to reinstate the 4,000-member Association of Iranian Journalists, which was forced to close in 2009.

China

Leadership: President Xi Jinping, in office since March 2013.

How censorship works: For more than a decade, China has been among the top three jailers of journalists in the world, a distinction that it is unlikely to lose any time soon.

Document 9, a secret white paper dated April 22, 2014, which was widely leaked online and to the international press, included the directive to "combat seven political perils" and reject the concept of "universal values" and the promotion of "the West's view of media."

Document 9 made it clear that the role of the media is to support the party's unilateral rule. The paper reasserted the necessity for China's technological and human censors to be ever more vigilant when keeping watch over the country's 642 million Internet users-about 22 percent of the world's online population.

In late November 2014, Xu Xiao, a poetry and arts editor for the Beijing-based business magazine Caixin, was detained on suspicion of "endangering national security."

The Central Propaganda Department warned editors not to report on the investigation into Xu, raising fears that the tactics used to stifle political dissent would broaden to publications looking critically at the arts. International journalists trying to work in China have faced obstacles, with visas delayed or denied.

Although some visa restrictions between the US and China have eased, during a press conference in Beijing with US President Barack Obama in November 2014, Xi argued that international journalists facing visa restrictions had brought the trouble on themselves.

Myanmar

Leadership: President Thein Sein, a former general, has led a quasi-civilian administration since 2011.

How censorship works: Despite an end to more than four decades of pre-publication censorship in 2012, Myanmar's media remains tightly controlled.

The Printers and Publishers Registration Law, enacted in March 2014, bans news that could be considered insulting to religion, disturbing to the rule of law, or harmful to ethnic unity. Publications must be registered under the law, and those found in violation of its vague provisions risk de-registration. National security-related laws, including the colonial-era 1923 Official Secrets Act, are used to threaten and imprison journalists who report on sensitive military matters.

For example, five journalists with the independent weekly newspaper Unity were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour, reduced on appeal to seven years, for reporting on a secretive military facility allegedly involved in chemical weapons production. Journalists are regularly barred from reporting from the military side of conflict with ethnic groups. Aung Kyaw Naing, a local freelance reporter who had embedded with rebel forces, was shot dead while in military custody in October 2014 after being apprehended by government troops in a restive area near the Thailand-Myanmar border.

Cuba

Leadership: Raúl Castro took over the presidency from his brother, Fidel, in 2008.

How censorship works: Despite significant improvements in the past few years-such as the elimination of exit visas that had prohibited most foreign travel for decades-Cuba continues to have the most restricted climate for press freedom in the Americas.

The print and broadcast media are wholly controlled by the one-party Communist state, which has been in power for more than half a century and, by law, must be "in accordance with the goals of the socialist society."

Although the Internet has opened up some space for critical reporting, service providers are ordered to block objectionable content. Independent journalists and bloggers who work online use websites that are hosted overseas and must go to foreign embassies or hotels to upload content and get an unfiltered connection to the Internet. Most Cubans do not have Internet at home. The government continues to target critical journalists through harassment, surveillance, and short-term detentions. Juliet Michelena Díaz, a contributor to a network of local citizen journalists, was imprisoned for seven months on anti-state charges after photographing an incident between residents and police in Havana. She was later declared innocent and freed. Visas for international journalists are granted selectively by officials.

- Attacks on the Press, Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ)