India drops to 150th place in 2022 World Press Freedom Index

India has dropped even more from last year’s 142nd place in the World Press Freedom Index to 150th this year, a report by a global media watchdog said on Tuesday. Out of 180 countries, India came in the 150th.

According to a report from Reporters Without Borders, India, its neighbours except for Nepal, and the rest of the world have all seen their press freedom fall. Pakistan is in 157th place, Sri Lanka is in 146th place, Bangladesh is in 162nd place, and Maynmar is in 176th place, the report says.

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Countries with the best performance

Norway– 1st

Denmark– 2nd

Sweden– 3rd

Estonia– 4th

Finland– 5th

North Korea stayed at the bottom of the list, while Russia fell from 150th place to 155th place, down from 150th place last year. According to the world’s media watchdog, China moved up two spots to 175th place from 177th place last year.

“On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders and nine other human rights groups have asked Indian authorities not to target journalists and online critics for their work.”

People should stop prosecuting them under counterterrorism and sedition laws, it said.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that the “20th World Press Freedom Index shows a two-fold increase in polarization amplified by information chaos.” This is because media polarization fuels divisions inside countries and between countries at the international level.

Three Indian journalists’ groups said that the RSF 2022 World Press Freedom Index was a good thing in a joint statement. “During the same time that job security has gotten worse, there has been a huge rise in attacks on press freedom. India doesn’t do very well in this area. It came in 150th out of 180 countries in the RSF World Press Freedom Index.”

For “flimsy” reasons, some journalists have been held in prison under draconian laws. They also say that self-proclaimed law enforcers on social media have threatened to kill them, which isn’t very good.

In addition, they said that the media must work together “to reclaim its role toward this goal” because free speech is important for a healthy democracy.