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Source: The post is based on the article “India slips in press freedom index, ranks 161 out of 180 nations” published in The Hindu on 4th May 2023
What is the News?
Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released the World Press Freedom Index 2023.
What is the World Press Freedom Index?
What are the key findings of the World Press Freedom Index 2023?
Norway is ranked first for the seventh consecutive year.
India is ranked 161 out of 180 countries. Press freedom in India has gone from “problematic” to “very bad”, with the country slipping 11 ranks since the 2022 report.
Except for Bangladesh (163), Myanmar (173) and China (179), all other neighbours have a better rank than India — Bhutan (90), Nepal (95), Sri Lanka (135), Pakistan (150), Afghanistan (152).
According to the report, violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in India, the world’s largest democracy.
What is Reporters Without Borders (RSF)?
RSF is an international NGO whose self-proclaimed aim is to defend and promote media freedom.
It has consultative status with the United Nations.
Headquarters: Paris, France.
RSF defines press freedom as “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety”.
