Press without freedom – Kommersant

In 2022, a record high number of countries – 31 – had media freedom at its lowest, almost non-existent. These largely autocratic states, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom rating organization, include Russia, which has significantly worsened its performance for the year.

“This year’s press freedom map is more crimson than ever,” Christophe Deloir, head of Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement. This color highlights countries where press freedom is “in a very serious situation”, non-existent or close to it. For the first time in 21 years of compilation press freedom rating 31 countries were in this category at once. According to Mr. Deloir, “the international community needs to wake up, realize the reality of what is happening, start acting together, decisively and quickly, in order to reverse this trend.”

In 2022, out of 180 countries assessed for press freedom, 52 countries have a “good” or “satisfactory” situation, 55 countries have a “problem”, 42 have a “difficult” situation, and 31 have a “very serious” situation. Thus, according to RSF, the situation for the work of journalists is now “bad” in seven out of ten countries of the world, and “satisfactory” – only in three out of ten. Using UN population data, RSF indicates that 85% of people live in countries where press freedom has deteriorated over the past five years.

For the seventh year in a row, the leader of the ranking remains Norway. And traditionally, the top 5 includes European countries. 2nd place Irelandwhich significantly improved the freedom of the press scores and pushed to 3rd place Denmark. Denmark, in turn, pushed back Sweden to 4th place. Top 5 closes Finlandwhich retained the position from the previous year.

The top 10 included the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal, East Timor. By the way, East Timor improved its press freedom scores so much in a year that it moved up to 10th place from 17th.

The least or no freedom, according to RSF, is enjoyed by the press in North Korea, which traditionally ranks 180th in the ranking. This year, next to her was China (179), which RSF describes as the world’s largest prison for journalists, and where the situation worsened over the year amid the government’s campaign of repression against members of the media. The situation worsened and Vietnam (178), where all major media outlets are controlled by the ruling party, and independent journalists and bloggers often end up behind bars.

The top ten countries with the most serious situation are also Iran (177), Turkmenistan (176), Syria (175), Eritrea (174), Myanmar (173), Cuba (172), Bahrain (171).

From the point of view of individual regions, as RSF notes, it is easiest for journalists to work in Europe, and the most difficult in the Middle East and North Africa.

The authors of the rating note that in 2022 there will be very significant changes in the level of press freedom in different regions. For example, Brazil soared from 110th to 92nd thanks, according to RSF, to the election of President Lula da Silva, who was expected to be able to restore stability in relations between the media and the government. And here Senegal in the rating fell immediately from 73rd to 104th place due to a sharp deterioration in the political situation, an increase in politicization in media coverage of events, and an increase in the number of threats against journalists.

One of the important factors of the past year, the authors of the rating note, was the growing influence on the freedom of the press from the fake content industry. In 118 countries, which is two-thirds of those included in the rating, the organization’s experts note “the systematic participation of politicians in campaigns of mass disinformation or propaganda.” This “blurs the distinction between truth and falsehood, real and artificial, fact and fiction, undermining the right to be informed,” says RSF. And hitherto unseen “opportunities to manipulate content are used to harm those who represent quality journalism and thereby weaken journalism as a whole.”

According to RSF, a significant contribution to the growth of propaganda was made last year by Russiawhich has been steadily falling in the press freedom rating in recent years, and over the past year it moved from 155th to 164th place, being between Bangladesh (163) and Turkey (165).

RSF believes that in 2022, almost all independent media in Russia were banned, blocked, declared foreign agents or undesirable organizations. The rest of the media, according to the organization, operate under military censorship.

Journalists working in Russia are sentenced to long prison terms, fined, threatened and intimidated. Belarus has fallen from 153rd to 157th place over the year due to the fact that, as RSF notes, independent media and their journalists continue to be persecuted there.

Alena Miklashevskaya