Media freedom has undergone a
“deep and disturbing” decline in several parts of the world and at the
global level this year, according to a new release from Reporters Without Borders.
Thus far in 2016, 57 journalists have been killed in connection with their work, 187 remain imprisoned and 44 are currently being held hostage, according to the organization’s latest December tallies. These figures represent professional journalists only. When including media netizens and citizen reporters, the numbers of those slain, detained and held for ransom climb to at least 74, 348 and 52, respectively.
The freedom of information advocacy group, also known as Reporters Sans Frontières, ranks 180 countries’ levels of press freedom to produce an overall world evaluation. Between 2013 and the start of this year, the global score plummeted by 13.6 percent. Factors evaluated by the group ― all of which worsened during this period ― include media independence, transparency and censorship, among others. The final grade for 2016 has yet to be calculated and released, but the overall picture is grim.
“What is very disturbing and concerning is that we have seen all continents are affected by this drop in press freedom,” Delphine Halgand, RSF’s U.S. director, told The WorldPost. “Since the start of 2016, the decline has been unbelievable.”
The Americas’ score tumbled by 20.5 percent in the three years leading up to 2016, which RSF attributes to a jump in targeted violence against journalists in Mexico and Central America.
The score for Europe and the Balkans, meanwhile, decreased by 6.5 percent as a result of the expanding impact of ultraconservative governments and extremist movements.
In Central Asia and eastern Europe, press freedom declined by 5 percent due to deteriorating free speech conditions in nations under authoritarian leadership.
Several countries already notorious for their lack of press freedom, like Egypt, China and North Korea, saw their scores drop even lower in RSF’s annual Press Freedom Index. Other countries, including typically higher-ranking ones like Poland, took shocking nosedives this year as governments tightened control of state-owned media outlets.
Americans are often surprised to see that the United States ranks 41st on the index, Halgand said.
RSF decried the U.S.
government’s “war on whistleblowers” in the name of protecting national
security, and cited American journalists’ lack of rights to withhold
their sources and other confidential information.
A large group of press freedom organizations recently penned an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump, whom the Committee to Protect Journalists has already declared a “threat to press freedom.” The incoming leader of the free world has continuously berated and vilified the “disgusting” media, and denied press credentials to news organizations that covered his campaign in ways that displeased him.
