Press Freedom Index finds India to be dangerous for journalists

NEW DELHI: World Press Freedom Index (PFI) 2021 was published this week by the international journalism not-for profit body, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). India has been ranked 142, same as last year in the index. It has been classified as one of the countries which are bad for journalism, and are considered as dangerous countries for journalists trying to do their jobs properly. Brazil, Mexico, and Russia came in the bad category along with India in the PFI 2021.

The Index ranked 180 countries in total, which was topped by Norway, followed by Finland and Denmark. Turkmenistan stood at 178 rank, China at 177, North Korea at 179, and Eritrea has been placed at the bottom of the index. Among the countries from south Asian neighbourhood, Nepal was ranked at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Pakistan at 145, and Bangladesh at 152.

According to the report, an environment of intimidation created by supporters of political parties for any critical journalist, who is then tagged as “anti-state” or “anti-national.” It added that journalists in India are being exposed to every kind of attack, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials. The report stated critical journalists in India are exposed to public condemnation in the form of extremely violent social media hate campaigns, which often include calls for them to be killed, especially if they are women.

In February last year, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had directed setting up of the Index Monitoring Cell in 18 Ministries in India. This was done to find ways to improve India’s position on 32 international indices.