Reporters Without Borders calls for regulation of online information
The World Press Freedom Index highlights the disastrous effects of news and information chaos – the effects of a globalised and unregulated online information space that encourages fake news and propaganda, Reporters Without Borders said when publishing the index on World Press Freedom Day. The report comprises 180 countries and territories.
”Within democratic societies, divisions are growing as a result of the spread of opinion media following the “Fox News model” (partisan news) and the spread of disinformation circuits that are amplified by the way social media functions.”
”Urgent decisions are needed in response to these issues, promoting a New Deal for Journalism, as proposed by the Forum on Information and Democracy, and adopting an appropriate legal framework, with a system to protect democratic online information spaces”, says RSF´s secretary general Christophe Deloire.
The report says that Norway, Denmark and Sweden continue to serve as a democratic model where freedom of expression flourishes, while Moldova (40th) and Bulgaria (91st) stand out this year thanks to a government change and the hope it has brought for improvement in the situation for journalists even if oligarchs still own or control the media.
The situation is classified as “very bad” in a record number of 28 countries in this year’s Index, while 12 countries, including Belarus (153rd) and Russia (155th), are on the Index’s red list (indicating “very bad” press freedom situations) on the map.
The world’s 10 worst countries for press freedom include Myanmar (176th), where the February 2021 coup d’état set press freedom back by 10 years, as well as China, Turkmenistan (177th), Iran (178th), Eritrea (179th) and North Korea (180th), RSF says.
”At the international level, democracies are being weakened by the asymmetry between open societies and despotic regimes that control their media and online platforms while waging propaganda wars against democracies. Polarisation on these two levels is fuelling increased tension”, the report says.
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