Press freedom continues to suffer in Asia: RSF
The World Press Freedom Index, released on May 3, saw a hike in political pressure at a global scale
Reporters Without Borders office in Paris. (Photo: rsf.org)
By UCA News reporter
Published: May 03, 2024 10:58 AM GMT
Updated: May 03, 2024 11:03 AM GMT
Press freedom in Asia has continued to suffer in the form of threats, repression, and imprisonment of journalists for their reporting, says an annual report from France-based non-profit Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index released on May 3 indicated increased political pressure at a global scale with the political indicator registering a global average fall of 7.6 points.
Apart from the political environment, RSF assessed economic, legislative, sociocultural, and security indicators for the ranking.
In a video, Anne Bocandé, RSF editorial director, warned of a worrying trend wherein states and other actors play a decreasing role in protecting press freedom.
“This disempowerment sometimes goes hand in hand with more hostile actions that undermine the role of journalists, or even instrumentalize the media through campaigns of harassment or disinformation,” Bocandé said.
Press freedom has worsened in the Asia–Pacific where 26 of the 32 countries and territories have seen their scores fall.
Regrettably, none of the Asian nations were placed in the top 15 countries in the press freedom ranking which is led by Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland, respectively.
The situation in the Asia-Pacific region was broadly categorized as a “very serious situation” in 37.5 percent of the countries in the territory followed by “difficult situation” (25 percent), “problematic situation” 15.6 percent, and “satisfactory situation” 21.9 percent.
Timor-Leste (ranked 20 out of 180 nations), Samoa (22), and Taiwan (27) retained their roles as press freedom models in the Index.
The Asia-Pacific region which RSF termed as “the world’s second most difficult region for practicing journalism” has five countries that were among the world’s ten most dangerous countries for media personnel.
The countries are Myanmar (171), China (172), North Korea (177), Vietnam (174), and Afghanistan (178).
With three journalists killed and at least 25 cases of journalists detained, Afghanistan dropped 26 places.
North Korea and China were placed at the tail end of the list due to their “all-out persecution of the media,” RSF said.
Myanmar and Vietnam, termed as the second and fourth biggest jailers of journalists, have “pursued a policy of mass imprisonment of media personnel,” the RSF report said.
Cambodia, which saw an increase in government reprisals against journalists, was ranked at 151 with the situation there classified as “very serious.”
The Philippines (134) “continues to be one of the region’s most dangerous countries for media professionals,” the RSF report said citing the case of the murder of two journalists in 2023.
While three journalists were murdered in Bangladesh (ranked 165), the number of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances of journalists increased in Pakistan (152), while journalists were subjected to physical and online attacks in Indonesia (111).
RSF pointed out that the rise of some of the countries in this year’s ranking was “misleading” as their scores fell, and the Index rises were the result of falls by countries previously above them.
The report particularly noted that India, the world’s largest democracy, was pushed up two places to the 159th spot “despite recently adopting more draconian laws.”
“Its [India’s] new position is still unworthy of a democracy,” RSF noted.
Similarly, Hong Kong rose five places to the 135th spot despite a fall in its score due to an increase in the persecution of journalists under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
South Korea was ranked 62 with several media outlets receiving threats of prosecution from the government for supposed defamation.
The threat of defamation proceedings keeps journalists on a short leash in Mongolia (109), while news sites critical of the government are often blocked in Malaysia (107).
The situation in the Middle East and Central Asia has also been no different, the data showed.
The Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is the one with the worst press freedom environment in the Index with the categorization of “very serious situation” and “difficult situation” at 47.4 percent territories and “problematic situation” at 5.2 percent territories.
“Wars are killing journalists in the region,” RSF said.
Palestine (157) was ranked as the most “dangerous country for reporters.” Israel which earlier occupied the top position in the region (92 in 2023) is now ranked at 101. Qatar overtook Israel and was ranked at 84.
The other country rankings are Japan (70), Nepal (74), Kuwait (131), Oman (137), Lebanon (140), Yemen (154), Saudi Arabia (166), Iraq (169), Iran (176), and Syria (179).