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According to the ROG, certain media have been given particular preference
© APA (dpa image / symbol)
The press freedom situation in Austria further deteriorated last year. As shown by the 2020 press freedom ranking published by Reporters Without Borders (ROG / RSF) on Tuesday, Austria again loses two places and falls from 16th to 18th place. However, small changes at the top: Norway and Finland are in first and second place, as in the previous year.
Especially in the last months of the ÖVP-FPÖ government under Foreign Minister Sebastián Kurz and his Vice President Heinz-Christian Strache before the Ibiza scandal, the red lines have been crossed regarding the freedom of the democratic press, said ROG President Rubina Möhring. “The particular preference of the government for certain media and sectors, greater intervention in editorial offices, legal actions against critical reports, the attempts of the former Interior Minister (Herbert Kickl [FPÖ], Note) confiscating a journalist’s cell phone “, this has demonstrated the understanding of press freedom that conservative and right-wing parties represent,” Möhring said.
Last but not least, the increase in verbal attacks and an “atmosphere of intellectual hostility” would have led to the loss of both locations. Austria thus remains in the yellow category, which describes the situation of press freedom as “sufficient”.
Globally, the press freedom situation improved marginally compared to the previous year, according to ROG. For the period since 2013, however, the global indicator shows a deterioration of 13 percent. Dictatorships, authoritarian and populist regimes are increasingly openly trying “to suppress independent information at all costs and to enforce their anti-pluralist worldview,” Möhring said, citing China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as key examples of this negative trend.
The effects of the current crown crisis did not influence the awarding of points (calendar year 2019), but act “as a fire accelerator for authoritarian trends and repressive points of trouble,” said the president of ROG. “Many countries that have lost ranking scores are particularly aggressive against the basic democratic order,” Möhring said, referring to Poland and Hungary, which are losing three and two places.
Overall, Europe is the clear leader in the ranking, making it not only the top 5 countries (Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands) within Europe, but seven of the top 10 are European (Switzerland in eighth place, Portugal) 10th place).
The best non-European countries are Jamaica in sixth place, Costa Rica in seventh place, both improved in two or three ranges, and New Zealand in ninth place. In addition to Portugal, which ranked in the top 10 instead of Belgium, they remain equal to ten top-ranking states. In the lower ranges are North Korea behind Turkmenistan, Eritrea, and China.
The biggest declines are Haiti, which has lost 21 places, the Comoros (minus 19) and Benin (minus 17). The Hong Kong Chinese Special Administrative Region loses seven places after months of pro-democracy mass protests against Beijing and is only ranked 80th in freedom of the press. Singapore also crashes seven places and is therefore in the black category for the first time (“very difficult situation”). After a dramatic 12-place crash last year, Malta, rocked by government scandals after the murder of a journalist, has dropped four rows again this year. The biggest climbers are Malaysia (plus 22 places), Maldives (plus 19), Sudan (plus 16), Bhutan and the Central African Republic (plus 13), and Ethiopia (plus 11).
23 out of a total of 180 countries (13 percent) testify to a “very difficult” (black) situation of press freedom. According to ROG, only eight percent have a “good situation” (white), and in 18 percent, including Austria, the situation is “sufficient” (yellow). The situation is “problematic” (orange) in 35 percent of the countries and “difficult” (red) in 26 percent.
The press freedom ranking has been compiled annually since 2002 and uses more than 100 questions to measure the situation of journalists, media and civilian reporters in 180 countries.
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