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India Ranks 150 Out Of 180 Nations On World Press Freedom Index; Falls 8 Spots

Mumbai: India has been ranked 150 on the 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index published by the international organisation Reporters Without Borders.

India’s ranking has dropped from 133 in 2016 to 150 in 2021, according to Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), which published its 2022 World Press Freedom Index on Tuesday, May 3.

The World Press Freedom Index highlights the degree of freedom of journalists, news organizations and netizens in each country and the government’s efforts to respect such freedom.

In the 2021 report, India was listed as “poor” for journalism and one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists. It was ranked 142 out of 180 countries.

“Violence against journalists, politically partisan media and concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that freedom of the press is under threat in the “world’s largest democracy”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right,” the 2022 report said.

It further said, “Originally a product of the anti-colonial movement, the Indian press was seen as quite progressive, but things changed radically in mid-2010 when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister and engineered a spectacular rapprochement between his party, the BJP, and the big families dominating the media. The prime example is undoubtedly the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Group, now a personal friend of Modi, which has over 70 media outlets, followed by at least 80 crore Indians.

The report also mentioned that there were over 100,000 newspapers (including 36,000 weekly) and 380 TV news channels operating in India.

According to the report, 13 journalists are currently behind bars and since January 1, one journalist has been murdered.

“With an average of three or four journalists killed every year in connection with their work, India is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for media. Journalists face all forms of physical violence, including police violence, ambushes by political activists, and deadly retaliation by criminal groups or corrupt local officials.”

Regarding the safety of journalists, the RSF report said there are “horrific coordinated campaigns of calls for hatred and murder” on social media.

“Such campaigns are often even more violent when they target women journalists, whose personal data may be posted online as additional incitement to violence,” the report said.

According to the report, three Nordic countries secured the top three positions, with Norway at first place followed by Denmark and Sweden. On the other hand, the countries below the press freedom index include nations such as China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Myanmar.

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