Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday said government support for press freedom has been declining worldwide, as it unveiled its annual world rankings, highlighting Argentina among the countries where the situation has deteriorated.
Norway retained its top position, while Eritrea came last, taking over from last year’s lowest-ranked country, North Korea. Among the most significant declines were Afghanistan, which fell 26 places to 178th; Togo, down 43 to 113th; and Ecuador, down 30 to 110th. The bottom 10 included China, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Eritrea.
The watchdog said that politicians across a wide range of countries were targeting the media.
Photo: AFP
“Some political groups fuel hatred and distrust of journalists by insulting them, discrediting them and threatening them,” it said. “Others are orchestrating a takeover of the media ecosystem.”
It singled out Argentina under newly elected President Javier Milei, down 26 places to 66th, saying his decision to shutter the public press agency Telam was a “worrisome symbolic act.”
It also highlighted Italy under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, where a member of her coalition is trying to acquire news agency AGI.
Respondents in three-quarters of countries reported to RSF that political actors were often involved in disinformation and propaganda, and that this was systematic in 31 countries.
RSF said there was “spectacular mimicry of Russian repressive methods” across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stretching as far as Serbia, “where pro-government media carry Russian propaganda and the authorities threaten exiled Russian journalists.”
The most challenging region remained the Middle East and North Africa, where the situation was “very serious” in nearly half the countries, with Qatar now the only country where the situation was not classified either as “difficult” or “very serious.”
Europe was the only region to include any countries classed as “good.” Greece was ranked worst in Europe — 88th overall — coming below Hungary and Poland. Despite improvements in its score, Greece was criticized over its continued failure to deal with a scandal around wiretapping journalists by the intelligence service and the murder of veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in 2021.
Now in its 22nd year, the RSF report is based on data collected by the group about abuses against journalists, and questionnaires sent to professionals, researchers and rights defenders.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
IT’S A DEAL? Including the phrase ‘overlapping claims’ in a Chinese-Indonesian joint statement over the weekend puts Jakarta’s national interests at risk, critics say Indonesia yesterday said it does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbors over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries. Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimizing Beijing’s vast claims. In 2016,
RSS