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| RWB released map showing worldwide situation of press freedom |
Washington: India has dropped to 140th rank, a fall of 9
places, in the list of 179 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index, which
its authors said is the lowest for the "world's biggest democracy"
since 2002.
“In Asia, India (140th, -9) is at its lowest since 2002
because of increasing impunity for violence against journalists and because
Internet censorship continues to grow. China (173rd, +1) shows no sign of
improving. Its prisons still hold many journalists and netizens, while
increasingly unpopular Internet censorship continues to be a major obstacle to
access to information,” Reporters Without
Borders said in its World Press Freedom
Index for the year 2013.
In almost all parts of the world, influential countries that
are regarded as “regional models” have fallen in the index. Brazil (108th, -9),
South America’s economic engine, continued last year’s fall because five
journalists were killed in 2012 and because of persistent problems affecting
media pluralism.
China (173rd, +1) shows no sign of improving. Its prisons
still hold many journalists and netizens, while increasingly unpopular Internet
censorship continues to be a major obstacle to access to information.
As last year, the list is topped by three European countries
- Finland, Netherlands and Norway.
Afghanistan has climbed 22 places in this year's Press
Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Maldives’ ranking places it alongside Mali (99th), which
experienced a military coup last year, and Fiji (107th), which experienced a
coup in 2006.
Prior to the country’s first multi-party democratic election
in 2008, the Maldives was ranked 104th – an improvement on its 2007 ranking of
129th, and 2006 – 144th. The country’s ranking in 2009-2010 reflected dramatic
improvements in press freedom, rising to 51st and 52nd respectively. The
ranking slipped to 73rd in 2011.
The high number of journalists and netizens killed in the
course of their work in 2012 (the deadliest year ever registered by Reporters
Without Borders in its annual roundup), naturally had a significant impact on
the ranking of the countries where these murders took place, above all Somalia
(175th, -11), Syria (176th, 0), Mexico (153rd, -4) and Pakistan (159th, -8).
“Only three Asian countries are in the top 25 percent of the
table, while 15 countries are among the bottom 45 places,” observed RSF.
“After the “Arab springs” and other protest movements that
prompted many rises and falls in last year’s index, the 2013 Reporters Without
Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to a more usual configuration.
The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political
developments. This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and
intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term, “the
report said.
Coinciding with the release of its 2013 Press Freedom Index,
Reporters Without Borders published an annual global "indicator" of
worldwide media freedom.
The index ranks countries according to levels of press and
media freedoms. Countries with the best levels of press freedom rank highest,
with northern European and Scandinavian countries filling the top three
positions: Finland, Netherlands and Norway respectively. Turkmenistan, North
Korea and Eritrea took the bottom three places.