Freedom of the press: Belgium moves from 11th to 23rd place in the RSF ranking
Reporters Without Borders has published the 20th edition of its World Press Freedom Index and notes significant submissions in Europe.
By Belga
Reporters without borders (RSF) notes, in the 20th edition of its World Press Freedom Index, published on Tuesday, important transformations in Europe, which nevertheless has the headliner of the ranking: Norway. The war in Ukraine is having “devastating” effects.
While Estonia (4th) and Lithuania (9th), former communist states, entered the top 10, the Netherlands (28th) left it, notably illustrates RSF. Greece (108th) also replaces Bulgaria (91st) in last place in Europe.
Reporters Without Borders sees three trends emerging in the European Union. First of all, the return of the murders of journalists: Giorgos Karaivaz, in Greece, and Peter R. De Vries, in the Netherlands.
Then the journalists, “falsely equated with the authorities, faced virulent hostility from protesters” against measures to combat the coronavirus. Hostility which resulted in numerous physical attacks in Germany (16th), France (26th), Italy (58th) and the Netherlands, and insults and threats throughout Europe.
Finally, some governments “have toughened the draconian measures against journalists, in particular in Slovenia (54th), Poland (66th), Hungary (85th), Albania (103rd) and Greece”. RSF also regrets that the United Kingdom (24th) paved the way this year for the extradition to the United States (42nd) of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.
The war in Ukraine
Reporters Without Borders also looks back on the invasion of Ukraine (106th) by Russia (155th). For the organization, the fact that the European institutions have banned media disseminating Russian propaganda without an appropriate legal framework, “risks being a pretext for retaliatory measures against European media”.
The war waged by Russia is evidence of “the devastating consequences for press freedom”, adds RSF. Five journalists or media employees were killed, the army deliberately targeted sources of information… “In Russia itself, the power assumes total control of information through the establishment of extensive wartime censorship, the blockage of the media and a hunt for recalcitrant journalists, forcing them into mass exile. »
And the Russian vision is spreading among some neighbors, mainly in Belarus (153rd), where independent journalists have been persecuted since the controversial presidential election of August 9, 2020.
Finally, in Turkey (149th), Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “hyper-presidency” leads to a “denial of press freedom” and interference in justice. Two journalists were murdered there in two years: Güngor Arslan, editor-in-chief of Ses Kocaeli, on February 19, 2022, and Hazim Özsu, presenter of a program on Radio Rahmet FM, shot dead in Bursa in March 2021.
Belgium is in 23rd position in the ranking, which includes 180 countries and territories. May 3 marks World Press Freedom Day.