In a statement published this Saturday, one day after presenting its global classification of press freedom in the world for this year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) focused on what is happening in five of the most populated countries, China, Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.
In the case of the Asian giant, which occupies 172nd place out of the 180 evaluated, The organization stated that it is “the largest prison in the world” for journalistssince there are more than 110 behind bars, and also “tries to export its totalitarian model of information control.”
Likewise, he warned that more than half of the world’s population lives in countries where the situation of press freedom is “very serious” and in which journalists risk their lives or their freedom.
In all of them, “the recent attempts to control information during the elections are the perfect illustration of the extent of the repression of press freedom that they are experiencing,” the text states.
Total, There are 36 countries in which the NGO considers the conditions for the exercise of press freedom “very serious”five more than in 2023.
At the other end, Only 8% of the world’s population is in countries where the situation is “good” or “satisfactory”essentially in Europe, although there are also some in America (Canada, Dominican Republic, Jamaica or Costa Rica), in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand), Asia (Taiwan) and Africa (South Africa, Namibia or Mauritania).
In Russia, in position 162, in anticipation of the presidential elections, which have once again confirmed Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, new laws were adopted to regulate the internet with the aim of “silence dissident voices and limit access to more than 140 million inhabitants to reliable information.”
Regarding Bangladesh (165), it denounces that the year before the “unsurprising” re-election of the prime minister for a fourth consecutive term was “of great violence against journalists, particularly during demonstrations that favored a climate of terror” of which the regime has been taken advantage of.
In Pakistan (152), it states that “official censorship of the media has been reinforced by the secret services”, accused of murdering journalists, with the aim of “erasing the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from the media space of the electoral campaign.” February of this year.
Regarding India, he complains that at a time when the current prime minister, the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, is a candidate for a third term after ten years in power, “the plague of disinformation campaigns and harassment against journalists increases even more, as well as access restrictions for foreign journalists.”
For its part, Reporters Without Borders warned that Political authorities have become one of the main threats to press freedom around the world due to the increase in governments and authorities that “fail in their role of guaranteeing an exemplary framework for the practice of journalism” and access to reliable information. This is clear from the latest World Press Freedom Classification prepared by the organization, which highlights that the political aspect, one of the five indicators that come into play in its report, is the one that has decreased the most worldwide in the last year. .
“RSF observes a worrying deterioration in support and respect for the autonomy of the media, as well as an increase in pressure exerted by States or other political actors on them,” reads the document published this Friday by RSF, which denounces that this year “is characterized by the manifest absence of political will” to protect journalists.
(With information from EFE)
