The Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has published its yearbook Press Freedom Index fourth 12 months in a row.
According to RSF, the rating, published annually for nearly twenty years, covers 180 countries and territories based on “the extent of pluralism, media independence, self-censorship, legal framework and transparency.”
The results “are calculated based on responses to a questionnaire accomplished by experts all over the world, supported by qualitative evaluation.”
Norway got here in first place, Finland retained second place, while Denmark moved up two places to round out the highest three on the expense of Sweden and the Netherlands, which dropped to fourth and fifth place respectively attributable to “a rise in cyberbullying”.
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia, in 101street positions, recorded the most important increases in comparison with last 12 months’s Index. RSF cited the “useful effects of presidency changes” in individual countries, as quoted: DW.
The organization warned in its report that the pandemic is “highlighting and amplifying multiple crises,” already casting a shadow over press freedom.
The outbreak has encouraged some regimes to “benefit from the incontrovertible fact that persons are stunned and mobilization has weakened to impose measures that might not have been taken in normal times,” RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire told AFP.
Here is the Press Freedom Index for Southeast Asian countries:
101. Malaysia (33/12)
119. Indonesia (36.82)
136. Philippines (43.54)
139. Burma (44.77)
140. Thailand (44.94)
144. Cambodia (45,46)
152. Brunei Darussalam (49.65)
158. Singapore (55.23)
172. Laos (64.28)
175. Vietnam (74.71)
