MALDEN Saturday was a perfect day for football.

The piercing wind whipped down Pearl Street and a thin coating of snow delicately blanketed the turf at Macdonald Stadium as more than 60 football hopefuls arrived with the same aspiration: to impress former New England Patriots running back Patrick Pass, a three-time Super Bowl champion, and his fellow coaches, also former NFL players, enough to earn a spot on the Boston Freedom Fighters roster.

The team is part of the newly formed, eight-team National Spring Football League, which is intended to help players reach the established professional leagues. The other teams are the Arizona Racers, the Georgia Blaze, the Los Angeles Knights, the Rhode Island Navigators, the San Antonio Defenders, the Texas Heat Seekers, and the Virginia Beach Sting Rays.

Its a developmental league for a lot of these kids, a second chance to show the NFL scouts, GMs, and owners that they have what it takes to play this game, Pass said. Were trying to give these guys the best film possible to showcase their talents.

Paul Shaughnessy, a 23-year-old Malden native and Northeast Metro Tech graduate, came out to earn a spot.

To play something you love and travel the country at the same time, thats the American dream, said Shaughnessy, who also was a running back at Mount Ida College from 2007 to 2010. A lot of guys in here are legitimate athletes and are excited for this opportunity.

Shaughnessy is one of 38 Massachusetts natives who attended tryouts on Saturday and participated in traditional drills such as the 40-yard dash and shuttle run, as well as individual position drills.

The Freedom Fighters first game is March 30 in San Antonio. According to Pass, the goal is to have a 60-man roster including 10 practice squad members set by training camp, which is scheduled to start March 4.

We want someone who is coachable, and someone we dont have to teach to play the game of football all over again, Pass said. We want someone who can listen, take directions well, and play hard.

The idea of locating in Boston started when Terrell Parham, the NSFLs chief executive, contacted Malden businessman Bill Spadafora and asked if he was interested in forming a team.

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Football players look to earn a shot with Freedom Fighters

New Zealand has increased its international ranking for media freedom, a result that School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing lecturer Dr Cathy Strong describes as "good news" though she still urges vigilance.

The annual ranking by international journalists organisation Reporters Without Borders showed New Zealand improved its listing five places from 13th to eighth highest of countries with governments allowing media to work independently.

Dr Strong, who, re-joined the University last year after three years teaching multi-media journalism in Dubai, says the ranking is well above the USA ranked 32nd, the UK ranked 29th and Australia ranked 26th.

"It is a case of use it or lose it. My experience working in the Middle East made it clear that many people dont even know the concept of free media, so New Zealand should not be blas about the treasure it has."

The report by Reporters Without Borders highlighted the fact that seven journalists have already been killed in 2013 - less than a month into the year. In 2012 90 journalists were killed carrying out their duties with another 53 media assistants and citizen-journalists suffering the same fate.

Dr Strong says New Zealand should be proud that it continually guards the right of journalists to have access to public information, especially as it is the publics taxes that pay for the generation of this information.

"Every time someone uses the Official information Act to compel a local authority or government department to release facts and figures, it is another step to ensure media freedom."

Upholding freedom for bloggers and social media is a "vexing problem" she says, as they should have freedom, but like journalists, they should exercise it with a sense of social responsibility.

Parliament will soon be investigating a proposal to change the way the media is held accountable, as set out recently in draft legislation from the Law Commission.

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Higher media freedom ranking for NZ 'good news'

KUALA LUMPUR: Press freedom in Malaysia has dropped to a new low by ranking of 145 out of 179 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.

Malaysia fell 23 spots to its lowest ever position from the previous ranking of 122 in 2011-2012.

The index, compiled in the annual publication of Reporters Without Borders, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that advocates freedom of the press and freedom of information, remarked that Malaysia was ranked so because access to information was becoming more and more limited.

This was despite efforts by the government to amend laws related to media freedom such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act in 2012 allowing more online news portals and permits for newspapers to operate.

"These small plus points for press freedom in Malaysia cannot hold the tide against attacks on media," said Masjaliza Hamzah, executive director of Centre For Independent Journalism.

"Last year, at least 12 journalists were harassed, threatened, assaulted, arrested and had their equipment damaged or seized while covering of the Bersih 3 rally. Some of those professional reporting tools seized had yet to be returned," she said.

She also said she was not surprised Malaysia's ranking had gone from bad to worse.

"The slide in Malaysia's press freedom ranking is bad news not just for media but for Malaysians as it means that media's ability to bring them news that's accurate, timely and fair had been compromised," she said.

"These requirements are much needed during an election period when it is important for voters to get reliable information about election issues and candidates and not public relations material -- so they know who best to cast their votes for."

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) felt the government needed to make more efforts to abolish laws that hindered press freedom.

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Malaysia at lowest ever in press freedom index

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Freedom Bank of Virginia (Bank) (Bulletin Board:FDVA.OB) announced the addition of E. Robert Musseman, Jr. as Vice President, Corporate Banking Division. Mr. Musseman will be based in the Fairfax office and assist in providing quality service to our existing clientele while fostering new relationships throughout the region. We are excited about having Rob join us, stated President & CEO Craig S. Underhill. Rob has been involved in the northern Virginia business community for many years and brings us a large network of prospective clients and referral sources. Mr. Musseman joins Freedom Bank from PNC Bank, where he was Vice President, Relationship Manager.

About Freedom Bank

Freedom Bank is a local community providing a full range of financial services, including credit and deposit products, cash management, and internet banking services for consumers and businesses. The Bank operates from its headquarters office at 10555 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030. For more information visit http://www.freedombankva.com

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130130006297/en/

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50547959&lang=en

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Commercial Banker Robert Musseman Joins Freedom Bank

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Freedom Bank of Virginia (Bulletin Board:FDVA.OB): finished its third consecutive year and fifteenth consecutive profitable quarter on December 31, 2012.

Assets grew to $238,642,144 at December 31, 2012. This was up 14.98% from $207,557,264 at the prior period. The investment in additional lending officers resulted in double digit loan growth for the year. New lenders made a particularly strong contribution in the fourth quarter with loans to medical professionals. Gross loans increased 11.33% to $171,901,847 up from $154,407,193 at December 31, 2011. In addition to strong loan growth, Investment Securities Available for Sale increased $13,533,997 (89.13%) to $28,717,795 at December 31, 2012.

Deposit growth was strong for the year at 16.05%. Non-interest bearing deposits increased $9,558,806 (37.64%) to $34,951,109. This growth was due primarily to the Banks strong penetration of the government contracting market. The Bank has focused on this market for many years and strong deposit growth in 2012 resulted from this long term effort. Time deposits increased $29,429,419 (21.55%) to $139,555,489 at December 31, 2012. Part of the strong growth in these areas was reduced by a decline in interest bearing checking accounts, which dropped $5,071,905 (12.17%) to $36,601,864 during the year.

Net profit declined for the year primarily due to investments the Bank made in loan growth and improving asset quality. The Bank increased its lending staff by 80% late in the year. This helped increase loan production, but also increased compensation expense by $270,000 in the fourth quarter. The Bank earned a net profit in 2012 of $1,192,000 ($0.42 per share), down from $1,900,300 in 2010 ($0.67 per share). Asset quality improved greatly. Loans on which the Bank is no longer accruing interest was halved from 2.43% at December 31, 2011 to 1.21% at December 31, 2012. Loans past due for regularly scheduled payments declined from 1.67% at December 31, 2011 to 0.23% at December 31, 2012. Although the result positioned the Bank well for the coming year, it did require the Bank to increase the Provision for Possible Loan Losses by $340,200 over the prior year.

Stockholders Equity exceeded $25,000,000 for the first time for the year ending December 31, 2012. Stockholders Equity was $25,264,084 up 6.61% from $23,697,402 at 12/31/2011. Year end book value per share was $8.81, up from $8.07 the prior year.

Capital continues to be a strength of the Bank. Regulatory capital minimums to be considered well capitalized for Tier 1 Leverage Ratio, Risk Based Capital Tier 1, and Risk Based Capital Tier 2 are 5.0%, 6.0% and 10.0% respectively. At 12/31/2012 the ratios for the Bank were 11.06%, 13.80% and 15.03% respectively, all in the well capitalized category. The Bank continues its tradition of maintaining a strong capital base to serve the needs of its customers and stockholders.

Freedom Bank is a community-oriented, locally-owned bank with locations in Fairfax and Vienna, Virginia. For information about Freedom Banks deposit and loan services, visit the Banks website at http://www.freedombankva.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements, including our expectations with respect to future events that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's projections, forecasts, estimates and expectations include: fluctuation in market rates of interest and loan and deposit pricing, adverse changes in the overall national economy as well as adverse economic conditions in our specific market areas, maintenance and development of well-established and valued client relationships and referral source relationships, and acquisition or loss of key production personnel. Other risks that can affect the Bank are detailed from time to time in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We caution readers that the list of factors above is not exclusive. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and we may not undertake steps to update the forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of any circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements are made. In addition, our past results of operations are not necessarily indicative of future performance.

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Freedom Bank Reports Third Consecutive Year of Profitability in 2012

Each year, the World Press Freedom Index ranks the worlds nations 179 of them on how easy they make the work of journalists, scoring them in categories like media independence, the physical safety of reporters, free speech laws, and transparency. The resulting list reads much like a primer for understanding global conflict: Safe and prosperous countries like Finland and Norway do best, while war-torn dictatorships like Iran, Eritrea, and Syria are among the worlds worst spots to be not only a citizen, but a journalist as well.

But while the index suggests that press freedom is frequently a casualty of war take for instance Mali, which plummeted 74 spots on the list during the past year it also indicates that those wounds are not always fatal. This year saw massive growth in press freedom in several countries with bloody recent histories, including Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, and Myanmar. These countries can serve as a bellwether for Middle Eastern and North African states struggling to remake themselves in the wake of the 2011 uprisings in that region, says Delphine Halgand, Washington director for the French NGO Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontires, or RSF), which released the index for 2012 today.

In these Arab Spring countries were still waiting on the promise of new freedoms, Ms. Halgand says. This is a really sensitive time for the future of the press there.

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Elsewhere in the world, however, shifts in journalistic freedom have happened more quietly. Malawi, for instance, marched upward 71 places in a single year on the back of government reform there, while Japan dipped 31 spots based on the governments handling of press coverage of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor disaster.

Here are five of the notable winners and losers on this years list.

#32: The United States

After tumbling 27 places in the rankings between 2011 and 2012, the United States recovered significant ground this year, rising 15 slots to 32nd. Last years downgrade was the result of police crackdown on reporters covering the Occupy Wall Street movement, which led to the imprisonment and beating of more than two dozen journalists, according to RSF. This was not the first time the American position in the ranking took a sudden nosedive the US fell 20 places between 2004 and 2005 at the height of government-media tensions over the war on terror. Even the US media climate reflects [political upheaval], Halgand notes.

But just as the US began to right itself this year, Canada dropped 10 spots to 20th as a result of press difficulties in covering the widespread student protests there. But neither the US nor its northern neighbor came close to the press freedom enjoyed in the Western Hemispheres highest ranked nation, tiny Jamaica, which clocked in at 13th.

#53: Japan

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5 big losers in press freedom: Mali and ... Japan?