India ranks 159 on Press Freedom Index
India’s rank rose two spots compared to last year, it continued to rank behind Turkiye, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Press freedom in India remained under severe pressure as the country ranked 159 of 180 nations in a ranking prepared by press freedom activist organisation, Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF), which releases a global index on freedom of the press worldwide each year.
According to a press statement issued by RSF, though India’s rank rose two spots compared to last year, it continued to rank behind Turkiye, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which are ranked at positions 158, 152, and 150, respectively.
RSF says that its ranking is based on five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety of journalists.
The index ranks 180 countries on the ability of journalists to work and report freely and independently.
“RSF sees a worrying decline in support and respect for media autonomy and an increase in pressure from the state or other political actors. States and other political forces are playing 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 instrumentalise the media through campaigns of harassment or disinformation,” says Anne Bocandé, Editorial Director of RSF.
RSF says that its ranking is based on five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety of journalists
According to the report Maghreb and Middle East regions performed the worst in terms of restrictions on press freedom by government forces. In the past year, said RSF, governments across the region have attempted to control and curtail the media through violence, arrests and draconian laws, compounded by “systematic impunity for crimes of violence against journalists”.
Since October 2023, over 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed in Gaza, including at least 22 during their work.
The RSF says that Latin America is also showing alarming indicators of political repression of journalism. In Argentina, the new president, Javier Milei, has boasted about his assault on the free press and has shut down the country’s biggest new agency. Press freedom is also under sustained political attack in Peru and El Salvador.
The US has performed badly due to increasing attacks on journalists from political officials, including public calls to imprison reporters and more than 1,500 Russian journalists have fled abroad since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, RSF says.
The RSF reports worsening repression of free press in Asia-Pacific countries like Afghanistan, North Korea, and China, as dictatorial governments tighten their control over news and information. Vietnam and Myanmar also fall in rankings due to mass media imprisonment. Artificial intelligence is used for political purposes.
The RSF criticises the rise of artificial intelligence in political disinformation, citing deepfakes for election manipulation. UNESCO reports 44 journalists killed for covering environmental stories over 15 years.
The report says that governments worldwide are tightening control over social media and the internet, stifling dissent and suppressing the dissemination of news and information. Journalists in countries like Vietnam and China face systematic repression for expressing their views online.
In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, media censorship mirrors Russian repressive methods, with countries like Belarus and Kyrgyzstan witnessing intensified crackdowns on press freedom.
While Norway topped the ranking, with the highest press freedom in the world, three other Nordic countries – Sweden, Denmark and Finland figured in the top five spots, with the Netherlands taking the fourth spot, just ahead of Finland.
