Watchdog says states not doing enough to support press freedom

Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders warned of declining government support for press freedom. The group, otherwise known by its French acronym RSF, unveiled its annual world rankings on Friday 3 May. In their report RSF found:

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.

Norway retained its top position, while Eritrea came last, taking over from last year’s lowest-ranked country, North Korea.

Press freedom threatened

But the watchdog warned that politicians across a wide range of countries were targeting the media. It said:

Some political groups fuel hatred and distrust of journalists by insulting them, discrediting them, and threatening them. Others are orchestrating a takeover of the media ecosystem.

It singled out Argentina under newly elected President Javier Milei, down 26 places to 66th. RSF found his decision to shutter public press agency Telam a “worrisome symbolic act”.

RSF also highlighted Italy under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Currently, a member of Meloni’s coalition is trying to acquire news agency AGI.

Respondents in three-quarters of countries (138) reported to RSF that political actors were often involved in disinformation and propaganda. They also found that this was systematic in 31 countries.

RSF said there was “spectacular mimicry of Russian repressive methods” across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stretching as far as Serbia, “where pro-government media carry Russian propaganda and the authorities threaten exiled Russian journalists”.

Greece was ranked worst in Europe (88th overall), coming below Hungary and Poland.

Despite improvements in its score, Greece was criticised over its continued failure to deal with a scandal around wiretapping journalists by the intelligence service and the murder of veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in 2021.

Repression

The most challenging region remained the Middle East and North Africa, where the situation was “very serious” in nearly half the countries, with Qatar now the only country where the situation was not classified either as “difficult” or “very serious.”

RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said that the volatility of turbulent rankings was down to a particular reason:

The volatility is also the consequence of growth in the fake content industry, which produces and distributes disinformation and provides the tools for manufacturing it.

The report found that in two-thirds of the 180 countries evaluated, respondents said that political actors were involved in disinformation campaigns:

The difference is being blurred between true and false, real and artificial, facts and artifices, jeopardising the right to information. The unprecedented ability to tamper with content is being used to undermine those who embody quality journalism and weaken journalism itself.

According to RSF, artificial intelligence had no small part to play either:

The remarkable development of artificial intelligence is wreaking further havoc on the media world, which had  already been undermined by Web 2.0. Meanwhile, Twitter owner Elon Musk is pushing an arbitrary, payment-based approach to information to the extreme, showing that platforms are quicksand for journalism.

Now in its 22nd year, the RSF report is based on data collected by the group about abuses against journalists, and questionnaires sent to professionals, researchers, and rights defenders.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Featured image by Unsplash/Engin Akyurt