The RSF report says that journalists are “exposed to every kind of attack, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials”. Four journalists were killed in India in 2020
In the newly released press freedom index by Reporter Without Borders (RSF), a media watchdog, India retained its 2020 rank of 142 out of 180 countries. The report labeled India as “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists trying to do their job properly”.
In 2016, India’s rank was 133 which has steadily climbed down to 142 in 2020. The RSF report says that journalists are “exposed to every kind of attack, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials”. Four journalists were killed in India in 2020
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The strongly-worded report also said “Ever since the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, pressure has increased on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line. Indians who espouse Hindutva, the ideology that gave rise to radical right-wing Hindu nationalism, are trying to purge all manifestations of “anti-national” thought from the public debate.”
“The coordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva followers are terrifying and include calls for the journalists concerned to be murdered.”
RSF REPORT ON PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2021
Norway is ranked number 1 in the index, followed by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Costa Rica. Among India’s neighbors, Pakistan ranks at 145, Sri Lanka at 127, Bangladesh at 152, Myanmar at 140, and Afghanistan at 122. At the bottom of the index is Eritrea, with North Korea, Turkmenistan, and China preceding it.
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