[Statista] Where the Press Is the Most and the Least Free

 

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PRESS FREEDOM WORLDWIDE

Where the Press Is the Most and the Least Free

by Florian Zandt, May 4, 2022

 

Norway, Denmark and Sweden are the countries with the highest scores on this year's World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the first two scoring more than 90 points. While the top-ranked countries have changed somewhat compared to 2013, there's a lot less movement in the bottom rungs, with one major exception.

This exception is the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, which in comparison with 2013 fell by 24 ranks to the fifth-last place. According to RSF, this can largely be attributed to the February 1, 2021 coup deposing State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, in the wake of which the military junta banned a slew of media outlets dedicated to independent reporting from the region.

While countries like North Korea, China or Iran have always been among or around the bottom 20 in the past, the number of countries losing the classification of having "good" freedom of press compared to around ten years ago is a cause for concern. In 2013, 25 countries scored between 85 and 100 index points, while in 2022 only eight qualified for this bracket. For example, liberal democracy poster children like the United Kingdom, the United States or Germany only managed to get a "satisfactory" rating.

This analysis comes with one important caveat: The index only portrays the level of freedom journalists and media workers enjoy in their corresponding countries and doesn't serve as an indicator of the quality or quantity of the connected outlets.

The World Press Freedom Index is based on an annual questionnaire conducted among journalists and media workers and covers five indicators across over 100 questions: political context (e.g. media autonomy), legal framework (e.g. ability to work without censorship), economic context (e.g. corruption and favoritism), sociocultural context (e.g. attacks on the press based on gender, class, ethnicity etc.) and safety (e.g. bodily harm).

DESCRIPTION This chart shows the countries ranking highest and lowest on the Press Freedom Index in 2022.

 

References: Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/27376/countries-ranking-highest-and-lowest-on-the-press-freedom-index/

 

Key Points

• 최근 국경없는기자회(Reporters Without Borders, RSF)는 세계언론자유지수(World Press Freedom Index) 2022를 발표
• 노르웨이, 덴마크, 스웨덴은 가장 높은 점수를 받았음, 노르웨이와 덴마크는 90점 이상
• 미얀마는 2013년과 비교하여 24단계 하락, 이는 2021년 2월 쿠데타로 미얀마 아웅산 수치 국가 고문이 퇴임하고 군부가 언론을 통제한 결과
• 북한, 중국, 이란 등의 국가는 항상 하위 20위안에 들며 낮은 언론자유지수를 보였음
• 하지만, 10년전과 비교하여 높은 점수를 받은 국가가 감소했다는 점이 우려스러움, 구체적으로 2013년에는 25개국이 85~100점 사이의 점수를 받았으나, 2022년에는 8개 국가만이 해당 점수를 받음
• 세계언론자유지수는 해당 국가에서 언론인과 미디어 종사자가 누리는 자유의 수준만을 나타낼뿐, 언론의 질이나 양을 나타내는 지표로 사용할 수 없음을 주의해야함
• 세계언론자유지수는 언론인과 미디어 종사자를 대상으로 연간 설문조사(정치적 여건, 법적 규제, 경제적 여건, 사회문화적 여건, 안전 등 구성)를 실시하여 지표를 발표

Infographic: Where the Press Is the Most and the Least Free