Philippines drops to 138th out of 180 on World Press Freedom Index
Published April 20, 2021 8:40pm The Philippines dropped two places in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) latest press freedom ranking, as the international organization noted the resurgence of red-tagging against individuals and groups. The 2021 World Press Freedom Index, released on Tuesday, also said that journalism was at least partly blocked in nearly three-quarters of the 180 countries surveyed. It found 73 countries totally blocked or seriously impeded journalism, while it was constrained in 59 others, adding that many governments had used the pandemic to worsen repression. The Index comes with a press freedom map that offers a visual overview of the situation in each country and region. Countries are colored according to the following categories: good (white), fairly good (yellow), problematic (orange), bad (red) and very bad (black).
Eastern Europe, Central Asia Rank Near Bottom In Press Freedom russiaherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from russiaherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Advertisement
Southeast Asian governments have used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to impose tight controls on the media and reinforce obstacles to the free flow of information, according to a new report from the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
This year’s World Press Freedom Index, released by RSF on Tuesday, shows the extent to which the pandemic has led to increased repression and attacks on journalists and the free press worldwide.
According to the report, authoritarian states have perfected their methods of control, while many nominal democracies have introduced a raft of restrictions in the name of public health. As Christian Mihr, RSF Germany’s Executive Director Christian, put it to Deutsche Welle, “The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced and consolidated repressive tendencies worldwide.”
Philippines further slips in World Press Freedom Index bworldonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bworldonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pandemic worsened repression of journalism: RSF
AFP, PARIS
An annual report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday said that journalism was at least partly blocked in nearly three-quarters of the 180 countries surveyed.
Its World Press Freedom Index found that 73 countries “totally blocked or seriously impeded” journalism, while it was “constrained” in 59 others, adding that many governments had used the COVID-19 pandemic to worsen repression.
“Journalism is the best vaccine against disinformation,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said in a statement. “Unfortunately, its production and distribution are too often blocked by political, economic, technological and, sometimes, even cultural factors.”
Dummies with press armbands and jackets are placed by Reporters Without Borders members in front of the Saudi consulate in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France, on Oct. 1, 2019, to mark the death anniversary of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.