Pakistan up, India down in World Press Freedom Index

WASHINGTON: While press freedom is declining in most of the world democracies including the United States and India, Pakistan is a pleasant exception as the country has gone up eight places in the World Press Freedom Index.

Although, the country is still ranked 139 in the index among 180 countries, Pakistan is among the few countries with most improved scores since 2016, according to the new report by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released on Wednesday. It was ranked 147 last year.

On the other hand, the neighbouring India lost three places to be placed on the 136th position. The fresh RSF report strongly criticised India for curbing freedom of expression in Kashmir and Indian Army’s highhandedness with journalists.

“With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of 'anti-national' thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media,” the report said. It highlighted Indian government’s efforts to suppress coverage of protests in Kashmir.

“On the first day of a wave of protests in Kashmir in July 2016, the Internet was cut by the military and was often interrupted thereafter to prevent communication between protesters and prevent coverage by the media and citizen journalists,” report said.

It says journalists working for local media outlets are often the targets of violence by Indian soldiers acting with the central government’s tacit consent. On Pakistan, the report says although the Pakistani media are regarded as among the freest in Asia, it is still targeted by militants groups and government agencies.

“There are fatal attacks on journalists every year, though the number has dropped for the past four years. The various warring groups are always ready to denounce acts of ‘sacrilege’ by the media.

"Government officials, political parties, and party activists are also quick to harass, threaten, or physically attack journalists regarded as unsympathetic to their views. “Adoption in 2016 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, under which criticism of the military, the judicial system, and Islam can lead to imprisonment, was condemned by the media,” the report said.

The report says press freedom deteriorated in two thirds of the world's countries. “The rate at which democracies are approaching the tipping point is alarming for all those who understand that, if media freedom is not secure, then none of the other freedoms can be guaranteed," RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said.

United States also lost two points this year as compared to 2016, to be ranked 43 in the Index. The report pointed out that US journalists were repeatedly put on trial for reporting on protests. The group accused US President Donald Trump of "systematic denunciations" of the media.

“Nothing seems to be checking” the erosion of liberty of the press in leading democracies, it said. Liberty of the press is in peril or in a “very serious situation” in 72 countries, including Russia, India and China, the report stated. We have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, and suppression of freedoms in democracies,” the report said.

The RSF index found that in the past year, nearly two-thirds of the countries had registered deterioration in their situation, while the number of countries where the media freedom situation was “good” or “fairly good” fell by more than two percent.

Norway came out the top of the index with the world’s freest media. It took over from neighbouring Finland which had held the title for six years. At the other end of the scale, North Korea took the bottom place.