The press, though it breathes a bit more freely, is co-opted and still occasionally muzzled.
In spasms, it has muzzled, beaten and jailed the opposition since the elections of 2005.
Radio shock jocks, such as Howard Stern and (the somewhat less famous) "Bubba the Love Sponge" have been muzzled, at least on Clear Channel, a radio giant that was roughed up in the scrap over the media rules.
Although there are countervailing arguments Mr Hague's critics retort that the police had good reason to alter their behaviour after the abuses and incompetence uncovered by Lord Macpherson this is surely the sort of issue politicians should be allowed to broach without being muzzled.
This week he played host to President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, a barefaced dictator who has muzzled the press and ravaged a generation of young men.
But he takes after his late predecessor, who had a gold statue of himself revolve to face the sun.All these men, who dislike each other, have rigged elections, muzzled the media and gone after opponents.
Buffeted by Western funding and diplomatic support, the winds of change sweeping the West Bank have seen the Palestinian parliament muzzled, elections cancelled, and political parties whither.
There, Mahathir Mohamad allows almost no freedom, either for the international press one recent week saw The Economist, the Review, Time and Newsweek all blocked or for the local media, which are almost completely muzzled.
The press, muzzled by the BNP and the interim government that succeeded it, is much freer.Another priority is to repair prickly relations with Bangladesh's huge, fast-growing neighbour, India.
The country's "managed democracy", with the media muzzled, only tame opposition candidates allowed and widespread vote-rigging, is designed to hand big victories to Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party.
He meddled with the courts, muzzled the press and brought out his own presidential guard to stymie protests.
