Reporters Without Borders warns: Press freedom is under threat in more and more countries around the world and the coronavirus crisis threatens to accelerate this development.
“Increasingly brazen authoritarian regimes, restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the fight against ‘fake news’, populist propaganda, a willingness to use violence against media professionals and the erosion of traditional media business models are putting press freedom under pressure worldwide.” This was the conclusion drawn by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently at the presentation of its “Press Freedom Ranking 2020”. RSF fears a further deterioration in the future: “In the current coronavirus pandemic, many of the developments depicted in the ranking are leading to repressive governments further expanding their media control under the guise of public safety.” Rubina Möhring, President of RSF Austria: “The corona crisis – as we can also call it in terms of press freedom – is acting as an accelerant for authoritarian tendencies and repressive hotspots. Numerous countries are currently taking particularly aggressive action against the basic democratic order.” At the top of the press freedom rankings for the fourth time in a row is Norway, with Finland and Denmark in second and third place. After losing five places in the 2019 press freedom ranking and slipping a further two places in the current ranking, Austria is in 18th place, directly behind Canada and Luxembourg and ahead of Uruguay. As in previous years, North Korea (180th place), Turkmenistan (179th) and Eritrea (178th) are at the bottom of the ranking. China is in 177th place behind Iran, Syria, Vietnam and Djibouti.
