Staring Into The Future

Michael Hedges April 22, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

The media sphere is looking for a light at the end of the tunnel fearing, to wax prosaic, a speeding freight train. Actually, the changes implied have been coming for decades. They are arriving now. And as with global pandemics, preparedness is spotty at best.

Fresh like a spring daisy, media freedom watcher Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) released its 2020 World Press Freedom Index this week. It ranks 180 countries by the degrees to which they either support news media or, on the other end, jail reporters. The RSF 2020 report shows, generally, few dramatic changes in this landscape from last year. That seems to be the point.

Data collection and expert interviews were conducted between November last year and January. Hence, the report does not reflect the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The RSF report accompanying the data does make that reference. "The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the negative factors threatening the right to reliable information, and is itself an exacerbating factor," wrote RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire in an attached statement. "What will freedom of information, pluralism and reliability look like in 2030? The answer to that question is being determined today.”

The top ranked countries are mostly unchanged. Norway is first, for the fourth year. Finland is next, followed by Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Ranking 6th in the world is Jamaica, up from 8th last year. Costa Rica placed 7th, up from 10th. Switzerland follows at 8th, then New Zealand and Portugal. which moved to 10th from 12th. Germany moved up to 11th from 13th.

Those at the bottom also have not changed much. Cuba ranked 171st, down from 169th. Laos follows at 172nd, then Iran, 173rd down from 170th. Syria is next, unchanged at 174th, followed by Vietnam, then Djibouti at 176th, down from 173rd last year.

China was unchanged at 177th. It was called out for “extreme censorship” and “trying to impose a new world order for the media even beyond its borders.” Eritrea and Turkmenistan followed. Dead last, again, is North Korea, 180th.

Between the top and bottom ranks, most nations changed little, some bumping up and others slipping. Mostly there were losers. The RSF report noted frequently that some movements were statistical, slight improvements coming from downward pressure on the entire list.

Several countries showed marked improvement. Malaysia’s ranking rose to 101st, up 22 places. Maldives moved into 79th place, up 19. Long rattling around the bottom, Sudan was lifted to 159th, the removal of dictator Omar al-Bashir cited.

Alas, being a closed ranking some of those indexed also fell dramatically. Haiti was hit hardest, down to 83rd. “The other two biggest falls were in Africa – by Comoros (down 19 to 75th rank) and Benin (down 17 to 113th), both of which have seen a surge in press freedom violations,” said the RSF report.

A significant portion of the RSF 2020 report ruminates on trends obvious throughout this century conflating at this moment to push media and press freedom further to the sidelines. “Increasingly brazen authoritarian regimes, repressive laws against alleged fake news, populist mood-mongering, and the erosion of traditional media business models are challenging press freedom worldwide.” The moment, of course, is the recent arrival of coronavirus.

“Existing repressive tendencies worldwide have converged with the coronavirus pandemic like sunlight on a magnifying glass,” noted RSF Germany spokesperson Katja Gloger. “Even before the current crisis, a terrifying number of governments and political forces in very different countries were willing to subordinate press freedom to their striving for power. If you want to ensure free access to independent information in the future, especially in difficult times, you have to make sure that journalists can investigate and report freely.”

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