In 1st place in terms of media freedom – Norway, in last place, 177th – Turkmenistan, Russia – 155th, Ukraine – 106th.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) presented the annual “Press Freedom Index” for 2022, which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries.
This year's report highlights the catastrophic consequences of news and information chaos in the unregulated global online information space, which spreads fake news and propaganda .
The report states that information chaos has led to double polarization in the world – at the level of polarization of the media, which inflames differences within countries, as well as polarization between countries at the international level.
At the international level, democracies are weakening due to the asymmetry between open societies and despotic regimes that control their media and online platforms, waging propaganda wars against democracies.
According to the authors of the document, Russia's invasion (155th place in the Index) in Ukraine (106th place), which took place in late February, reflects this process, as the beginning of the war was preceded by the Russian propaganda war.
China (175th place), one of the most repressive autocratic regimes in the world, uses its legislative arsenal to isolate the population from independent information and cut it off from the rest of the world, especially the Hong Kong population (148th place).
< Lack of press freedom in the Middle East continues to affect the conflict between Israel (86th place), the Palestinian Authority (170th place) and other Arab states.
Speaking of Russia and its war in Ukraine, ” Reporters Without Borders highlights factors such as journalists killed and wounded in the field, levels of censorship unprecedented since Soviet times, and mass disinformation. “
RSF talks about 5 journalists who have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war . The report said that “in Russia itself, the government has established full control over news and information by imposing heavy censorship during the war, blocking the media and harassing disobedient journalists, forcing many of them to leave the country.” It began in 2021, after the tightening of the law on the media, some of which qualify as “foreign agents”, and prosecutions related to the fate of dissident Oleksiy Navalny, who is currently in prison. “
According to Reporters Without Borders, this control of information is not limited to Russia. “The Kremlin is imposing its vision of war on some of its neighbors, especially Belarus (153rd place), where independent journalists continue to be persecuted for their work … and where more than 20 media workers are bored in prison. Without hesitation, Alexander Lukashenko sent a plane on May 23, 2021, to arrest an opposition journalist who had gone into exile. More and more media are branded “extremist,” and reading and distributing their content on social media is subject to criminal prosecution. “
The RSF report also noted Russia's pressure on Central Asian governments on the media, which cover the conflict more “neutrally”. In Turkmenistan (177th place), the media – all controlled by the government – ignore the war in Ukraine.
The freest press in the world in 2022 is felt in the Scandinavian countries – Norway (1st place), Denmark (2nd place) and Sweden (3rd place). Unexpectedly, the two leaders of the former Soviet Union were Estonia (4th place) and Lithuania (9th place).
The traditional leader in the field of freedom of the press is the European Union, despite good results in a number countries, faced with negative trends. The report notes “fierce hostility from protesters against public health measures aimed at combating the coronavirus.” In Germany (16th place), France (26th place), Italy (58th place) and the Netherlands (28th place), journalists were physically attacked; In addition, journalists faced insults and threats of all kinds across the continent.
Governments in Slovenia (54th), Poland (66th), Hungary (85th), Albania (103rd) and Greece 108th place), according to RSF, tightened laws against journalists.
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