The journalistic environment is bad in seven out of 10 countries, reveals the 21st edition of the World Press Freedom Index, published this Wednesday by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
On World Freedom Day, which is celebrated today, the RSF report – which analyzes the situation in 180 countries or territories – says that the situation is “very bad” in 31 countries, “bad” in 42 countries, “problematic ” in 55 and “good” or “quite good” in 52 countries.
For the seventh consecutive year, Norway appears as the country with the best environment for journalism, but the second place is not occupied by a Nordic country (something unusual in relation to the last editions of the survey), leaving Ireland, which rose four places. , ahead of Denmark.
Portugal appears in ninth place, the first position in the ranking of countries with the environment classification “fairly good”, one position in the ranking of “good”, behind Estonia and ahead of Timor-Leste, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. .
Only Asian countries appear in the bottom three places in RSF’s ranking: Vietnam (a country accused of having expelled all independent journalists), China (which has fallen four positions in the last year) and North Korea (which is considered one of major advertising countries). exporters).
The report also reveals that the global disinformation landscape has been favorable for a propaganda boom in Russia, which appears at 164th on the list after falling nine places in the past year.
The United States also fell three places in the last 12 months, with a record of a more problematic environment for journalists at the regional press level, mainly due to situations of violence against reporters.
“The World Press Freedom Index shows enormous volatility, with big ups and downs and unprecedented changes, such as Brazil’s rise to 18th place and Senegal’s drop of 31 places. This instability is the result of increased aggressiveness on the part of the authorities in many countries. and growing animosity against journalists on social media and in the physical world,” said Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary general.
This year’s edition of the Index also highlights the dramatic effects caused by the impact of the digital ecosystem, i.e. digital social networks, on the flow of information.
Across 118 countries, the majority of respondents to this survey reported instances where political actors in their countries systematically engaged in massive disinformation campaigns on social media.
On the other hand, this RSF document highlights that the border between what is true and what is false, between what is real and what is fictional, is increasingly tenuous and difficult to measure.
The organization anticipates that this situation could worsen in the coming years, with the irruption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) mechanisms in the field of news content production, leveraged by the latest developments.
“AI is digesting content and regurgitating it synthetically with rules that violate the principles of rigor and reliability,” the Index analysts conclude today.
Source: TSF
