Reporters Without Borders (RWB) released its annual 2017 World Press Freedom Index which revealed Taiwan as the top place among other Asian countries and ranks no. 45 among the world.
"Media freedom has retreated wherever the authoritarian strongman model has triumphed", it warned. Even the Nordic countries - which traditionally lead the RSF's annual index - have dropped a few places in this year's index.
Overall, press freedom has declined around the world, Reporters Without Borders noted, with a total of 21 countries now rated as "very bad", three more than past year, and 51 "bad", two more than in 2016.
The number of countries where the situation was rated "good" or "fairly good" fell by more than 2 per cent.
They include the well-known journalist Gao Yu and three RSF Press Freedom laureates: Lu Yuyu, Li Tingyu and Huang Qi, the founder of the independent news website 64Tianwang.
Britain, like the U.S., fell two places in the group's index on press freedom and now sits at 40th.
Press freedom has never been as threatened as it is now, in the "new post-truth era of fake news" after the election of US President Donald Trump, Reporters Without Borders warned as it published the report. In all, the situation has worsened in almost two-thirds of the 180 countries covered in the index, RSF says.
Turkish party to challenge election decision
The High Electoral Board announced in a written statement its decision by a 10-1 vote to reject three requests by the opposition. The High Electoral Board said it assessed appeals from the CHP and two other parties at a seven-hour meeting on Wednesday.
The report said the Middle East and North Africa region continues to be the most risky for journalists to work, with Eastern Europe and Central Asia close behind. President John Magufuli "keeps tightening his grip on the media", RSF said.
Turkmenistan's neighbors, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Uzbekistan are all colored black on RSF's 2017 world map, meaning that the situation of press freedom in these countries is classified as "very bad".
Released each year by the worldwide organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the index ranks 180 countries/territories according to the freedom allowed to journalists.
Afghanistan is also among the states classified as "red" for press freedom.
Six Italian journalists are under 24-hour police protection due to death threats from organized crime groups, most famously Roberto Saviano, whose book Gomorrah examined the grip of the Camorra mafia group on Naples.
The 20017 index takes account of violations that occurred between January 1 and December 31, 2016.
Comments