He advance of misinformationwhich is gaining more and more weight through official propaganda campaigns that make it difficult to discern the truth from the false, has marked the challenges that the press freedom in the worldaccording to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In its 2023 annual rankingwhich assesses the situation in 180 countries, released this Wednesday on the occasion of the World Press Freedom DayRSF highlighted a decline in this right at a general level, with only three out of ten countries with a “satisfactory” situation.
Within the general volatility, the general secretary of RSF, christophe deloirehighlighted the advance of 18 places in Brazil (position 92), linked to the departure from power of the previous president, Jair Bolsonaroor the fall of 31 Senegalwhich led the classification in Africa.
“The instability is the effect of a growing aggressiveness of power in many countries against journalists in social networks and in the physical world”, added Deloire, who highlighted the fragility of Latin America, a region with an informant murder rate equivalent to that of countries at war.
“To resist (this violence) solid legal frameworks are necessary that, on many occasions, have not been implemented” in Latin America, Deloire told the news agency EFE.
The head of RSF also pointed to disinformation campaigns, which he defined as the “simulation industry.”
The development of the artificial intelligencehe generative “has shaken up the already fragile universe of the media” along with attitudes like that of Elon Musk on Twitter, where “has taken an arbitrary and censorship logic to the extreme”, which reveals “the quicksands” in which journalism moves.
A battlefield, that of the disinformationwhich has been nourished by the ukrainian warwhere Russia “launched a media arsenal in record time” to spread its official speechwhich has caused that country to fall nine places in the RSF ranking to 164th place.
That conflict is also dragging Ukraine, where exercising the profession of journalist has never been so difficult.
The situation of press freedom is “very serious” in 31 countries“difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55 and only in 52 is it “good” or “very good”, almost all of them in Europe.
Norway leads the list for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Ireland, which has benefited from the setback of Finland, where two journalists have been convicted for revealing state secrets, and by Sweden, penalized by a new law that makes it difficult to keep sources confidential.
More stable is the lower part of a classification that continues to close North Koreaahead of China, the largest prison for journalists in the world and one of the main factories of propaganda content, and Vietnam, which has strengthened the persecution of reporters and independent commentators.
Among the falls stands out USA, where despite the goodwill of the President’s Administration, Joe Biden, the murder of two journalists has negatively impacted his position (Four. Five).
The concentration of media in the hands of oligarchs in India and the growing Crackdown on journalists on the eve of Turkey’s elections have made these two countries fall into the zone of “very serious” situation, while Iran continued its decline amid the regime’s response to the death of the young Mahsa Amini.
Important falls also in Tunisia, with President Kais Saied “increasingly authoritarian” and Peru (lost 33 places to 110), “where journalists pay the price of persistent instability.”
The good news comes from countries like Australia, which gains 12 places, or Malaysia, which progresses 40.
The report warns of the situation in Germany, which loses five places in a “record” year in violent acts and arrests of journalists.
(With information from EFE)
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