World Press Freedom Index: Media takeovers by oligarchs close to PM Modi have jeopardised pluralism in India, says RSF report

Narendra Modi/PTI

Global media watchdog Reporters Without Border (RSF) on Wednesday said that the situation of media freedom has gone from "problematic" to "very bad" in three countries including Tajikistan, India and Turkey.

In its latest report ‘2023 World Press Freedom Index' - which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) - released on Wednesday, RSF said that India has slipped 11 positions down to 161 compared to 2022. Turkey has also slipped down 16 positions to 165. Pakistan has fared better when it comes to media freedom as it was placed at 150, an improvement from last year's 157th rank. Sri Lanka also made significant improvement on the index, ranking 135th this year as against 146th in 2022.

According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index the situation is "very serious" in 31 countries, "difficult" in 42, "problematic" in 55, and "good" or "satisfactory" in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism is "bad" in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten.

In India, the report said, media takeovers by oligarchs close to Prime Minister Modi have jeopardised pluralism, while the Erdogan administration in Turkey has stepped up its persecution of journalists in the run-up to elections scheduled for May 14. In Iran, the heavy-handed crackdown on the protests triggered by the young student Mahsa Amini's death in police custody drove the country's "social context" and "judicial environment" scores even lower.

Some of the 2023 Index's biggest falls have been in Africa. "Until recently a regional model, Senegal (104th) has fallen 31 places, above all because of the criminal charges brought against two journalists, Pape Alé Niang and Pape Ndiaye, and the sharp decline in security for media personnel. In the Maghreb, Tunisia (121st) has fallen 27 places as a result of President Kais Saied's growing authoritarianism and inability to tolerate media criticism. In Latin America, Peru (110th) has plummeted 33 places because its journalists are paying dearly for the persistent political instability and are being harassed, attacked and smeared because of their proximity to leading politicians. The fall by Haiti (down 29 at 99th) is also due mainly to the continuing decline in the security environment," the report said.

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The United States (45th) has fallen three places. "The Index questionnaire's US respondents were negative about the environment for journalists (especially the legal framework at the local level, and widespread violence) despite the Biden administration's efforts. The murders of two journalists (the Las Vegas Review Journal's Jeff German in September 2022, and Spectrum News 13's Dylan Lyons in February 2023) had a negative impact on the country's ranking. Brazil (92nd) rose 18 places as result of the departure of Jair Bolsonaro, whose presidential term was marked by extreme hostility towards journalists, and Lula da Silva's election, heralding an improvement."

The report further said that in Asia, changes in governments also improved the environment for the media and accounted for such significant rises in the Index as Australia's (up 12 at 27th) and Malaysia's (up 40 at 73rd).

Germany (21st), where a record number of cases of violence against journalists and arrests have been recorded, has fallen five places. Poland (57th), where 2022 was relatively calm from a press freedom viewpoint, has risen nine places, while France (24th) has risen two. Greece (107th), where journalists were spied on by the intelligence services and by powerful spyware, continues to have the EU's lowest ranking, it said.