Press Freedom Index

IS JOURNALIST’S LIFE UNDER STAKE

India is one such country that is least ranked in the press freedom index. Some other countries with the same classification include China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. According to a report from Niti Aayog, a French-based publishes yearly report purporting to evaluate the press freedom in 180 countries. The recently released 2020 press freedom index has ranked 142 out of 180 countries. A final qualitative analysis is combined with previous data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated. The criteria evaluated in the questionnaire are pluralism, media independence, and other media indices that support the production of news and information.

Based on the data we have assigned each country a media freedom health rating based on a traffic-light system. Countries with a good track record on media freedom by international standards are awarded a green; countries where performance on media freedom raises cause for concern are given an amber, whereas countries where there are critical issues when it comes to the ability of the press to operate freely are labelled red.

Of the countries we labelled red overall, ten — Bahrain, Burundi,

China, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Vietnam received a red in each of the three sub-categories. Of these, Turkmenistan, Cuba, and Eritrea scored particularly poorly, receiving a red on almost every indicator.

INDIA’S PLURALISM AND INDEPENDENCE RATING-ORANGE

Media pluralism defines the state of having a plurality of voices, opinions and analyses on media system (internal pluralism) or the coexistence of different and diverse types of medias and media support (external pluralism). There are some areas of concern in India when it comes to independence and plurality of media, the report said. Of the 166 countries analysed, 30 were rated green. 113 were rated orange and 23 were red under this category.

INDIA’S JOURNALIST’S SAFETY RATING-RED

According to the report, in 2020, two journalists were killed, four were imprisoned and no journalist went missing in India. Worldwide, 32 journalists were killed, 274 were imprisoned and 65 went missing.

INDIA’S PRESS FREEDOM INDICES RATING-RED

According to the 2020 World Press Freedom Without Borders, India was ranked 142 out of 180 countries.

REFERNCE: https://niti.gov.in/deciphering-world-press-freedom-index

https://pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazette-media-freedom-health-check-70-world-no-free-press/

Originally published at https://weekendblogbydk.blogspot.com on March 30, 2021.