World Press Freedom Index 2022

World Press Freedom Index 2022

Released Date : 3^rd May 2022

Released By : Reporter Without Boarders (RSF)

India Rank : 150^th Out of 180 Countries and territories.

Top rank : Norway

World Press Freedom Index 2022, is the 20^th edition has released by Reporters Without Boarders (RSF) on the World Press Freedom Day, that is 3^rd may.

• India rank is 150^th out of 180 countries and territories.
• As per report, India has slipped eight position back from last year rank 142nd.

 About World Press Freedom Day :

In 1991, The Windhoek Declaration for the development of a free Independent and Pluralistic Press was produced by African Newspaper journalists at a UNESCO seminar held in Windhoek the capital of Namibia by using tag line “Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press”.

• The Date of Windhoek Declaration adoption was 3^rd-May-1991, has subsequently been declared as World Press Freedom Day by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1993.
• World Press Freedom Day Theme is for year 2022 is “Journalism under Digital Siege”

 About World Press Freedom Index:

World Press Freedom Index report is released every year since 2002 by Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) or Reporters Without Boarders.

• RSF is an Independent NGO based in Paris France. It has founded in 1985 in Montpellier by four Journalists. It was recognised in France as public interest organisation in 1995.
• RSF has consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, The Council of Europe and the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF)
• Scoring Criteria for Countries and Territories:
  • Ranking of countries and territories in this index are based on score ranging from 0 to 100. 100 is best possible score (Highest possible level of press freedom) and 0 is the worst.
  • This Score is calculated on basis of two component :
    • A quantitative tally of abuses against journalists in connection with their work and against media outlets
    • A Qualitative analysis of the situation in each country and territory based on the Reponses of the press freedom specialists (Including Journalists, researchers, academes and human right defenders) to an RSF questionnaire.
  • Evaluation Criteria:
    • Each countries or territories score is evaluated using five contextual indicators that reflects the press freedom situation.
      • Political Context
      • Legal Framework
      • Economic Context
      • Sociocultural context
      • Safety

World Performance in World Press Freedom Index 2022:

• World Press Freedom index 2022 report reveals that New Era of polarisation has started. It shows the two-fold increase in polarisation by information disorder that is
  • Media polarisation fuelling divisions within countries
  • Polarisation between countries at the International Level
• Ranking of countries:
  • Top 5 Ranked countries are :
    • Norway        (1^st rank)
    • Denmark     (2^nd Rank)
    • Sweden         (3^rd Rank)
    • Estonia         (4^th Rank)
    • Finland        (5^th Rank)
  • Bottom 5 ranked Countries are :
    • North Korea (180^th Rank) North Korea is on the Bottom and worst performer.
    • Eritrea              (179^th Rank)
    • Iran                   (178^th Rank)
    • Turkmenistan (177^th Rank)
    • Myanmar         (176^th Rank)
  • India’s Neighbouring countries performance:
    • China                (175^th Rank)
    • Nepal                (76^th Rank)
    • Bhutan              (33^rd rank)
    • Bangladesh      (162^nd rank)
    • Pakistan           ( 157^th Rank)
    • Afghanistan     ( 156^th  Rank)
    • Srilanka            (146^th Rank)

India Performance in World Press Freedom Index 2022 :

• India has slipped eight place from previous year rank 142^nd to 150^th in the 2022 among 180 countries assessment.
• Reason for fall down in ranking is “ Increasing violence against presses and journalists” and politically partitioned in media.
• India position is consistently downgrading since 2016 in this world press freedom index.
• India is among the countries identified as Difficult for journalism and termed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists to trying to do their jobs.

References: https://rsf.org/en/index

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Thank you 🙂