New Report from Reporters Without Borders Finds Media Freedom Declined Globally VOA News
go to original April 20, 2016

Journalists and members of the April 6 movement protest against the restriction of press freedom and demand the release of detained journalists in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo. (VOA News)

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders says there has been a "deep and disturbing decline" in respect for media freedom at levels both regional and global.

The group said in its annual report released Wednesday that the world is entering a "new era of propaganda" and a reluctance to engage in free debate. The group said many world leaders have developed "paranoia" about journalists and are cracking down on the media, while privately-owned media outlets are increasingly under pressure from corporate interests.

Reporters Without Borders said the situation is particularly grave in Latin America, due to institutional violence, organized crime, corruption, and media concentration.

Eritrea was ranked the worst worldwide on overall media freedom, falling below Syria, China, and North Korea.

Finland was ranked highest, followed by the Netherlands and Norway. The United States, where the major problem was reported to be cybersurveillance, was ranked 41st.

The report says the situation globally has deteriorated significantly in the past few years. It attributes the decline to a rise in the authoritarian nature of some governments, such as those in Egypt and Turkey; security situations that have become more dangerous, such as in Libya, Yemen, and Burundi; and tighter government control of state-owned media, even in some European countries such as Poland.

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