Joel Saget—AFP
Reporters Without Borders annual evaluation finds Pakistan at 159 of 180 countries listed.
Media freedom suffered a “drastic decline” worldwide last year in part because of extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said in its annual evaluation released Thursday.
“There has been an overall deterioration linked to very different factors, with information wars, and action by non-state groups acting like news despots,” said the head of the Paris-based group, Christophe Deloire.
The Reporters Without Borders 2015 World Press Freedom Index stated that there were 3,719 violations of freedom of information in 180 countries in 2014—eight percent more than a year earlier. All parties in conflicts raging in the Middle East and Ukraine were waging “a fearsome information war” where media personnel were directly targeted for killing or capture, or pressured to relay propaganda, it said.
The Islamic State group active in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram in northern Nigeria and Cameroon, and criminal organizations in Italy and Latin America all used “fear and reprisals to silence journalists and bloggers who dare to investigate or refuse to act as their mouthpieces,” said the watchdog, known by its French initials RSF.
North Africa and the Middle East contained notable “black holes” in which “entire regions are controlled by non-state groups in which independent information simply does not exist,” the group said. “The criminalization of blasphemy endangers freedom of information in around half of the world’s countries,” the report said, noting that religious extremists sometimes also go after journalists or bloggers they believe do not sufficiently respect their god or prophet.
RSF’s ranking put Iran, China, Syria and North Korea among the countries with the very worst levels of press freedom out of the 180 evaluated. Repression of journalists in Ukraine during its early-2014 uprising against its pro-Kremlin president, and in Turkey during anti-government demonstrations earned both spots in the bottom quarter of the table.
“Police misconduct” during the Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong earned that territory a slide to 70th position.
The best-rated nations were northern European states such as Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, with New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica also making the top 10. The United States ranked 49, three spots lower than in the previous report, in part because of what RSF said was the U.S. government’s “war on information” against WikiLeaks and others.
In South America, Venezuela stood out with a 20-notch fall to a ranking of 137 due to the National Bolivarian Guard opening fire on clearly identified journalists during demonstrations. Libya dropped 17 places to 154 because of the national chaos that has seen seven journalists murdered and 37 kidnapped.
Russia slipped to the 152nd spot after introducing “another string of draconian laws,” website blocking and the extinction of independent media. “Press freedom … is in retreat on all five continents,” RSF declared, claiming its indicators were “incontestable.”
A ranking of all 180 countries and territories evaluated by the Paris-based media watchdog group in its latest annual report, from best to worst:
- Finland
- Norway
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Canada
- Jamaica
- Estonia
- Ireland
- Germany
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Belgium
- Costa Rica
- Namibia
- Poland
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Iceland
- Ghana
- Uruguay
- Cyprus
- Australia
- Portugal
- Liechtenstein
- Latvia
- Suriname
- Belize
- Lithuania
- Andorra
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- Slovenia
- Cape Verde
- Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
- France
- South Africa
- Samoa
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Botswana
- Chile
- Tonga
- El Salvador
- Burkina Faso
- Niger
- Malta
- United States
- Comoros
- Taiwan
- Romania
- Haiti
- Mongolia
- Mauritania
- Papua New Guinea
- Argentina
- Croatia
- Malawi
- South Korea
- Japan
- Guyana
- Dominican Republic
- Madagascar
- Hungary
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Serbia
- Mauritius
- Georgia
- Hong Kong
- Senegal
- Moldova
- Italy
- Nicaragua
- Tanzania
- Northern Cyprus
- Lesotho
- Armenia
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Guinea-Bissau
- Albania
- Panama
- Benin
- Mozambique
- Ivory Coast
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Liberia
- Kuwait
- Greece
- Peru
- Fiji
- Bolivia
- Gabon
- Seychelles
- Uganda
- Lebanon
- Brazil
- Kenya
- Israel
- Guinea
- East Timor
- Bhutan
- Nepal
- Bulgaria
- Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- Paraguay
- Central African Republic
- Nigeria
- Maldives
- Zambia
- Montenegro
- Qatar
- Tajikistan
- Macedonia
- Mali
- Algeria
- United Arab Emirates
- Brunei
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Guatemala
- South Sudan
- Tunisia
- Oman
- Colombia
- Ukraine
- Morocco
- Zimbabwe
- Honduras
- Cameroon
- Thailand
- Chad
- India
- Venezuela
- Indonesia
- Cambodia
- Palestinian Territories
- Philippines
- Ethiopia
- Jordan
- Myanmar
- Burundi
- Bangladesh
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Turkey
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Gambia
- Russia
- Singapore
- Libya
- Swaziland
- Iraq
- Belarus
- Egypt
- Pakistan
- Kazakhstan
- Rwanda
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Saudi Arabia
- Sri Lanka
- Uzbekistan
- Equatorial Guinea
- Yemen
- Cuba
- Djibouti
- Laos
- Somalia
- Iran
- Sudan
- Vietnam
- China
- Syria
- Turkmenistan
- North Korea
- Eritrea