Press freedoms around the world took a hit in 2015, and a new “era of propaganda” is threatening to take the place of real, investigative journalism, according to a recent study from the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Freedoms of the press were attacked particularly hard last year in the Americas, the Paris-based group said Wednesday as it rolled out the latest updates to its World Press Freedom Index.
The index measures several factors, including press independence, censorship and government transparency, in 180 countries to determine where media is most free to do its job.
RSF found that leaders around the world have become increasingly paranoid about “legitimate journalism,” and that world governments have grown progressively wary of media.
Though the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia continue to be the most opposed to freedom of the press, there was a decline in media freedoms all over the world, RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire told AFP.
“All of the indicators show a deterioration. Numerous authorities are trying to regain control of their countries, fearing overly open public debate,” he said.
“Today, it is increasingly easy for powers to appeal directly to the public through new technologies, and so there is a greater degree of violence against those who represent independent information,” he added. “We are entering a new era of propaganda where new technologies allow the low-cost dissemination of their own communication, their information, as dictated. On the other side, journalists are the ones who get in the way.”
For now, Europe remains the one area where the press is most free, though RSF warned that recent efforts to combat Islamic extremism threaten to put the continent on “a downhill course.”
Elsewhere, “Japan slumped to 72nd due to what the watchdog identified as self-censorship towards Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” RSF said.
But Japan wasn’t the only country to find itself demoted on the index.
“The countries that fell farthest include Poland (47th, down 29), where the ultra-conservative government seized control of the public media, and (much farther down) Tajikistan, which plunged 34 places to 150th as a result of the regime’s growing authoritarianism,” RSF said.
“The Sultanate of Brunei (155th, down 34) suffered a similar fall because gradual introduction of the Sharia and threats of blasphemy charges have fueled self-censorship. Burundi (156th, down 11) fell because of the violence against journalists resulting from President Pierre Nkurunziza’s contested reelection for a third term. The same “infernal trio” are in the last three positions: Turkmenistan (178th), North Korea (179th) and Eritrea (180th),” they added.
The United States ranked 41 on the list of 180 countries, as the press advocacy group bemoaned that a country famous for enshrining the right to free speech in its founding documents is now plagued by a government-led war on whistleblowers.
“U.S. media freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment to the 1787 constitution, has encountered a major obstacle – the government’s war on whistleblowers who leak information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operations, especially those linked to counter-terrorism,” the group’s website reads. “Furthermore, U.S. journalists are still not protected by a federal ‘shield law’ guaranteeing their right not to reveal their sources and other confidential work-related information.”
Though the issues facing the United States and Europe are serious, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening right now to media in Latin America, RSF said.
Venezuela and Ecuador suffer from “institutional violence,” Honduras is grappling with crime syndicates and Brazil is plagued with rampant corruption.
The lowest-ranking countries on the list include Syria, which came in at 177 out of 180, China and North Korea, which came in at 176 at 179, respectively.
Finland snatched first place again, continuing a tradition established in 2010.
Last place went to Eritrea.
“For more than 20 years, Eritrea has been a dictatorship in which freely reported news and information has no place. At least 15 journalists are currently detained, some of them held incommunicado. Like everything else in Eritrea, the media are totally subject to the whim of President Issayas Afeworki, a predator of press freedom who has no plans to relax his grip,” RSF said.
Afeworki said recently, “Those who think there will be democracy in this county can think so in another world.”
Eritrea has come in dead last on RSF’s index for the past eight years.
