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World Press Freedom: This 12 months, Norway (1st) and Denmark grabbed the highest positions. (Representational)
New Delhi:
India’s rating within the World Press Freedom Index has fallen right down to a hundred and fiftieth place from final 12 months’s 142nd rank out of 180 international locations, in line with a report by a world media watchdog launched on Tuesday.
The rating of India’s neighbours, besides that of Nepal, have additionally slid down, with the index putting Pakistan at 157th place, Sri Lanka 146th, Bangladesh 162nd and Maynmar at 176th place, the report launched by Reporters With out Borders stated.
In line with the RSF 2022 World Press Freedom Index, Nepal has climbed up by 30 factors within the international rating at 76th place. Final 12 months, the Himalayan nation had been positioned at 106th place, Pakistan at 145th, Sri Lanka 127th, Bangladesh 152nd and Myanmar at one hundred and fortieth place within the index.
This 12 months, Norway (1st) Denmark (2nd), Sweden (third) Estonia (4th) and Finland (fifth) grabbed the highest positions, whereas North Korea remained on the backside of the listing of the 180 international locations and territories ranked by the Reporters With out Borders.
Russia was positioned at one hundred and fifty fifth place, down from a hundred and fiftieth final 12 months, whereas China climbed up by two positions with the Reporters With out Borders putting it at a hundred and seventy fifth place. Final 12 months, China was positioned at 177th place.
“On the World Press Freedom Day, Reporters With out Borders and 9 different human rights organisations ask Indian authorities to cease concentrating on journalists and on-line critics for his or her work,” the worldwide non-profit organisation stated in a press release on its web site.
“Extra particularly, they need to cease prosecuting them underneath counterterrorism and sedition legal guidelines,” it added.
The Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) stated the Indian authorities ought to respect the suitable to freedom of expression and launch any journalists detained on trumped-up or politically motivated fees for his or her essential reporting and cease concentrating on them and muzzling unbiased media.
“The authorities’ concentrating on of journalists coupled with a broader crackdown on dissent has emboldened Hindu nationalists to threaten, harass and abuse journalists essential of the Indian authorities, each on-line and offline, with impunity,” it stated.
“The authorities must also conduct immediate, thorough, unbiased and neutral investigations into allegations of threats and assaults concentrating on journalists and critics, together with from authorities officers,” the RSF stated, including, “journalists shouldn’t must danger their freedom and their lives to do their work.” In regards to the international situation, the RSF stated the twentieth World Press Freedom Index reveals a two-fold improve in “polarisation” amplified by data chaos, that’s, media polarisation fuelling divisions inside international locations, in addition to polarisation between international locations on the worldwide stage.
Reacting to the RSF 2022 World Press Freedom Index, three Indian journalists our bodies stated in a joint assertion, “Whereas the job insecurities have grown so have the assaults on press freedoms seen an exponential rise. India doesn’t fare too properly on this regard, rating 150 out of 180 international locations within the World Press Freedom Index compiled by RSF.
“Journalists have been incarcerated underneath draconian legal guidelines for flimsy causes and on some events confronted risk to their lives as properly from self-styled custodians of legislation within the social media house,” the Indian Girls’s Press Corps, Press Membership of India and Press Affiliation added.
Noting that freedom of press is integral to the functioning of a vibrant democracy, they stated the media has to come back collectively “to reclaim its function in direction of realisation of this goal”.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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