Major Taiwanese news group Eastern Media International recently reported that, not long ago, Reporters Without Borders released the rankings for the 2022 World Press Freedom Index. Taiwan rose from 43rd last year to 38th. It is now ahead of Japan, South Korea and the United States. Hong Kong fell all the way from 80th last year to 148th this year. China ranked 175th out of 180 countries. The Index showed that Nordic countries are still at the top, with Norway and Denmark taking the top two places Both have high ratings of over 90. The five countries sitting at the bottom are North Korea (180th), Eritrea (179th), Iran (178th), Myanmar (176th), and China (175th). The United States ranked 42. The Reporters Without Borders report pointed out that the authoritarian regimes, which strictly control the media, used their asymmetrical position to launch propaganda wars against democracy, intensifying the confrontations with the democratic nations. Every year, Reporters Without
Borders ranks 180 countries and territories on the degree of freedom for journalists.
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).
Source: ETToday, May 3, 2022
https://www.ettoday.net/news/20220503/2243194.htm
https://rsf.org/en/rsfs-2022-world-press-freedom-index-new-era-polarisation