China and Vietnam have tumbled to join North Korea at the very bottom of the latest World Press Freedom Index, while Russia also moved lower.
(Bloomberg) — China and Vietnam have tumbled to join North Korea at the very bottom of the latest World Press Freedom Index, while Russia also moved lower.
China now languishes in 179th place on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) index — one spot above North Korea. It was described by RSF as the the world’s biggest jailer of journalists and press freedom advocates. Russia dropped nine points to the 164th spot, with RSF pointing to attacks on the last independent media outlets amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. A Moscow court last month rejected an appeal by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his detention on allegations of espionage, a case that’s highlighted the rising pressure on journalism in Russia. The WSJ denies the allegations.
According to RSF, the US fell three spots to 45, with the murders of Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Jeff German in September 2022, and Spectrum News 13’s Dylan Lyons in February 2023 negatively affecting the country’s ranking.
Norway retained its spot at the top of the list, as Ireland moved up four places to take second place.
Singapore sat in 129th place on the index, up from 139th spot in 2022, while Hong Kong moved up eight spots to 140th place — with both financial hubs still being classed as in a “difficult” situation.
In other moves:
- Brazil rose 18 spots to 92nd place following the departure of President Jair Bolsonaro
- India and Turkey both slipped from the “problematic” category to “very bad,” with the former seeing a threat to pluralism from a series of media takeovers by oligarchs, according to RSF
- The UK slipped two places to 26, with RSF highlighting the fact Julian Assange is still being held as he awaits extradition and investigative journalism under threat by a national security bill
- Fledgling democracy Timor-Leste was the only country outside of Europe to break into the top 10
“The World Press Freedom Index shows enormous volatility in situations, with major rises and falls and unprecedented changes, such as Brazil’s 18-place rise and Senegal’s 31-place fall,” said RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire. “This instability is the result of increased aggressiveness on the part of the authorities in many countries and growing animosity towards journalists on social media and in the physical world.”
RSF ranked 180 countries and territories using a quantitative tally of abuses against journalists and media outlets and a qualitative analysis based on a questionnaire given to hundreds of press freedom experts.
(Updates with added information)
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