Centre Rejects World Press Freedom Index 2022 Findings on India

World Press Freedom Index 2022- Relevance for UPSC Exam

• GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Transparency and accountability; transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

World Press Freedom Index 2022 in News

• Recently, the Centre informed Parliament that it did not agree with the conclusions drawn by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ in the World Press Freedom Index 2022.

What is the rank of India in World Press Freedom Index 2021?

World Press Freedom Index 2022 Report and India’s Stand

• India’s Rank: World Press Freedom Index 2022 ranked India at 150 among 180 nations in its 2022 report.
• ‘Reporters Without Borders’ Findings on India: Press Freedom Index 2022 report-
  • Described India as “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media” and
  • Noted that “journalists are exposed to all kinds of physical violence, including police violence, ambushes by political activists and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials.”
• India’s Stand: India does not agree with the conclusions drawn by the organisation for various reasons, including-
  • Very low sample size,
  • Little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy,
  • Adoption of a methodology which is questionable and non-transparent”.
• Role of PCI: Press Council of India (PCI) has been set up under the Press Council Act, 1978 mainly to preserve the freedom of the press and improve the standards of newspapers and news agencies in the country.
  • PCI looks into the complaints filed ‘by the Press’ regarding curtailment of press freedom.

Press Freedom Index- Global Scenario

• Top Performers: Norway (1st) Denmark (2nd), Sweden (3rd) Estonia (4th) and Finland (5th) grabbed the top positions in the Press Freedom Index 2022.
• Bottom Ranking Country: North Korea remained at the bottom of the list of the 180 countries and territories in the Press Freedom Index.
• Russia Ukraine War: Russia was placed at 155th position, down from 150th last year on the Press Freedom Index 2022.
  • The invasion of Ukraine (106th) by Russia (155th) at the end of February reflects this process, as the physical conflict was preceded by a propaganda war.
• China’s Ranking: China climbed up by two positions with the Reporters Without Borders placing it at 175th position on the Press freedom index 2022.
  • Last year, China was placed at 177th position on the press freedom index.

About Press Freedom Index

• About: Press Freedom Index annually ranks countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
  • Note: press freedom index does not measure quality of journalism prevalent in a country or region.
• Publishing Organization: Press Freedom Index 2022 has been published every year since 2002 by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
  • RSF is based in Paris and is an independent NGO with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF).
• Categories: The Press Freedom Ranking is based on a country’s performance in five broad categories-
  • Political context,
  • Legal framework,
  • Economic context,
  • Sociocultural context and
  • Safety of journalists.

Press Freedom Index 2022

Press Freedom Index 2022

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