Ukraine rises to 79th place in Media Freedom Index
Crises, wars, and the continued spread of authoritarianism meant that last year, the situation with press freedom was more volatile than it had been in a long time.
This is evidenced by the new Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on May 3, 2023, on International Press Freedom Day, reports Ukrinform.
In this ranking, Ukraine took 79th place, rising from 106th reported last year.
The situation with press freedom in Ukraine has improved (79, +27). This is mainly due to the economic stabilization of most mass media. In addition, the influence of oligarchs on journalism has decreased. But in the category of security, Ukraine ranks penultimate across the world. This is related to Russia's war crimes against mass media representatives in Ukraine, the study notes.
Russia dropped nine positions, to 164th.
In general, the situation looks best in the North of Europe (Norway, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden are TOP 4), the worst – in Asia (North Korea is in the last, 180th place, slightly missing China and Vietnam).
“Killings and kidnappings, arrests and physical attacks are just different expressions of the same problem: governments, interest groups and individuals want to use violence to prevent media professionals from reporting independently. We observe this phenomenon in all parts of the world, whether in Russia, Myanmar or Afghanistan - or even in Germany, where aggressiveness towards journalists has risen to a record high," said RSF board spokesman Michael Rediske.
He noted that democratic governments should support mass media in their respective countries, increase pressure on authoritarian regimes, and strengthen media in exile. According to the RSF scale, the situation with press freedom is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “identified problems” in 55 and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52. Thus, the working conditions of media workers are problematic in approximately 70% of the world's countries, as last year.
The biggest problem remains the security situation of journalists. They are attacked at rallies, killed in armed conflicts and not only there, arbitrarily arrested or sentenced to long prison terms. The security situation is very serious in 36 of the 180 countries – in war-torn nations such as Ukraine and Yemen, as well as in the world's biggest media prisons, such as China, Myanmar, and Iran.
The number of attacks on journalists in Germany, which dropped 5 points to 21st place, rose to a record high.
Organized disinformation is also a growing issue in many countries, with 118, or two-thirds of all states, reporting that political figures in their country have been involved in massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns.
The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index compares the situation of journalists and the media in 180 countries and territories. The ranking is based on five indicators: in addition to security, it is the political context, legal framework, economic context, and socio-cultural context. These indicators are determined based on a qualitative study for which journalists, academics and human rights defenders were selected in the respective countries, answering 123 questions, as well as based on surveys on attacks on journalists and media, the number of which is included in the security indicator. The formula gives a score from 0 to 100, whereas 0 is the worst possible score and 100 is the best one. The global ranking is a sequence of scores of individual countries. The 2023 Press Freedom Index includes data from January 1 to December 31, 2022.