The journalists’ organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has complained about increasing violence against media workers around the world in the context of elections. This development is particularly worrying with a view to the super election year of 2024, as the international association announced when presenting its annual “Press Freedom Rankings”.
Overall, the situation of press freedom has continued to deteriorate significantly worldwide. The association presented the list on the occasion of “International Press Freedom Day” on May 3rd.
RSF managing director Anja Osterhaus said in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” that they look at this every year and unfortunately found that the situation was good or at least satisfactory in only 45, i.e. a quarter of the countries examined. “It is very worrying in 36 countries. This means that journalism – as we know it – can hardly take place there anymore.”
Germany has significantly improved its position on the list and is in 10th place. In 2023, the Federal Republic was still in 21st place.
About the ranking methodology: The association compares the situation for media professionals in around 180 countries. Security, political context, legal framework as well as economic and socio-cultural environment in the respective country play a role in the allocation of places. The association also uses surveys and selects journalists are questioned in more detail. The ranking has been around for more than 20 years. Data from 2023 was included in the latest edition.
The association points out that it can happen that countries automatically improve in the rankings just because others have done worse. This is how RSF partly explains the jump that Germany has made. At the same time, the number of attacks on journalists registered by the association has decreased in this country. However, it is assumed that there is a high number of unreported cases worldwide.
Norway is in first place in the rankings for the eighth time in a row. Behind them are Denmark (2), Sweden (3), the Netherlands (4), Finland (5), Estonia (6), Portugal (7), Ireland (8) and Switzerland (9), ahead of Germany. Eritrea comes last in 180th place. In front of it are Syria (179), Afghanistan (178), North Korea (177) and Iran (176).
