{"id":14890,"date":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/21-04-2021\/world-press-freedom-index-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","slug":"world-press-freedom-index-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-04-2021\/world-press-freedom-index-2021","title":{"rendered":"World Press Freedom Index 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>In News<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Recently,<strong> Reporters Without Borders<\/strong> (RSF) has published the <strong>World Press Freedom Index 2021<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">RSF is an <strong>international journalism not-for-profit <\/strong>body.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>About the Index<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Published every year since 2002<\/strong>, it is an important <strong>advocacy tool <\/strong>based on the principle of emulation between states.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is a <strong>point of reference <\/strong>that is quoted by media throughout the world and is used by diplomats and international entities such as the <strong>United Nations<\/strong> and the <strong>World Bank<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Measures<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The Index <strong>ranks 180 countries and regions<\/strong> according to the <strong>level of freedom available to journalists<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation <strong>based on an evaluation of<\/strong> various criterias.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It<strong> does not rank public policies<\/strong> even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country\u2019s ranking. <strong>Nor is it an indicator of the quality of journalism<\/strong> in each country or region.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Global and Regional Indicators<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">RSF also calculates a global indicator and regional indicators that <strong>evaluate the overall performance<\/strong> of countries and regions as regards media freedom.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It is an <strong>absolute measure <\/strong>that complements the Index\u2019s comparative rankings. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The <strong>global indicator <\/strong>is the <strong>average of the regional indicators<\/strong>, each of which is obtained by <strong>averaging the scores of all the countries in the region<\/strong>, weighted according to their population.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Criteria Used in Questionnaire:<\/strong> Pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Data on Abuses<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">A team of in-house specialists keeps a <strong>detailed tally of abuses and violence against journalists and media outlets<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The<strong> Abuses indicator<\/strong> for each country is calculated on the basis of the <strong>data about the intensity of abuses and violence<\/strong> against media actors<strong> during the period evaluated<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">This quantitative indicator is then used <strong>to weight the qualitative analysis<\/strong> of the situation in the country based on the replies to the questionnaires.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Press Freedom Map<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It offers a <strong>visual overview of the situation<\/strong> in each country and region in the Index.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The colour categories are assigned as follows:<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><img decoding=\"async\"  style=\"height:172px; width:558px\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">(Image Courtesy: <a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/detailed-methodology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\">RSF<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>Global Findings<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The 2021 report shows that journalism is <strong>completely or partly blocked<\/strong> in <strong>73 per cent <\/strong>of the <strong>180 countries<\/strong> ranked.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The report labelled <strong>132 countries<\/strong> as \u201c<strong>very bad<\/strong>\u201d, \u201c<strong>bad<\/strong>\u201d or \u201c<strong>problematic<\/strong>\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The<strong> 2021 Edelman Trust barometer<\/strong> reveals a disturbing level of<strong> public mistrust of journalists<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The Trust Index is the <strong>average percent trust in NGOs, business, government and media<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The report noted that<strong> only 7 per cent countries<\/strong> can claim to offer a <strong>favourable environment <\/strong>for journalism.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Best Performers: <\/strong>Norway (1), Finland (2) and Denmark (3).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Worst Performers:<\/strong> Eritrea (180), North Korea (179) and Turkmenistan (178).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>South Asian Country Rankings: <\/strong>Nepal (106), Sri Lanka (127), Myanmar (140, before the coup), Pakistan (145), Bangladesh (152) and China (177).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>On larger Asia-Pacific Region:<\/strong> Several of the region\u2019s countries<strong> strictly apply existing draconian legislations<\/strong> like laws on \u2018sedition,\u2019 \u2018state secrets\u2019 and \u2018national security\u2019 and their application has been termed as \u201c<strong>particularly instructive<\/strong>\u201d.<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The report on the Asia-Pacific region said journalists who criticised the government are branded as \u201c<strong>anti-state<\/strong>,\u201d \u201c<strong>anti-national<\/strong>\u201d or even \u201c<strong>pro-terrorist<\/strong>\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong><u>Indian Highlights<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">India is <strong>ranked 142<\/strong>, <strong>same as last year<\/strong>, after it had consistently <strong>slid down from 133 in 2016<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">However, it continues to be counted <strong>among the countries classified<\/strong> \u201c<strong>bad<\/strong>\u201d for journalism.<\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">India shares the \u201cbad\u201d classification<strong> with Brazil, Mexico and Russia<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It has been termed as<strong> one of the most dangerous countries for journalists <\/strong>trying to do their jobs properly.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Journalists are<strong> exposed to every kind of attack<\/strong>, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">It highlighted that campaigns are <strong>particularly violent when the targets are women<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">The report has also highlighted<strong> throttling of freedom of expression on social media<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><strong>Arbitrary nature of Twitter\u2019s algorithms<\/strong> also resulted in <strong>brutal censorship<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/world-press-freedom-index-india-remains-one-of-the-worlds-most-dangerous-countries-for-journalists-7281362\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published the World Press Freedom Index 2021. RSF is an international journalism not-for-profit body. About the Index Published every year since 2002, it is an important advocacy tool based on the principle of emulation between states. It is a point of reference that is quoted by media [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,34,35,64,63],"class_list":["post-14890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-india-foreign-relations","tag-international-organisations-groupings","tag-its-bodies-agencies","tag-united-nations"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/4139798current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}