Report: Ghana Drops In Press Freedom Index
Ghana has ranked 60 globally in the 2022 Press Freedom Index put together by Reporters Without Border (RSF) compared to her previous performance in past years.
In 2021, the RSF report indicated that Ghana ranked 30 globally with a score of 78.67%.
In this year’s index, Ghana scored 67.43%.
African countries like Sierra Leone, South Africa, Gambia, etc, which Ghana was leading in terms of press Freedom, have overtaken Ghana in this year’s index.
According to RSF, the 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, highlights the disastrous effects of news and information chaos – the effects of globalised and unregulated online information space that encourages fake news and propaganda.
However, the trio of Nordic countries at the top of the Index – Norway, Denmark and Sweden – continues to serve as a democratic model where freedom of expression flourishes, while Moldova (40th) and Bulgaria (91st) stand out this year thanks to a government change and the hope it has brought for improvement in the situation for journalists even if oligarchs still own or control the media, RSF reports.
The situation is classified as “very bad” in a record number of 28 countries in this year’s Index, while 12 countries, including Belarus (153rd) and Russia (155th), are on the Index’s red list (indicating “very bad” press freedom situations) on the map. The world’s 10 worst countries for press freedom include Myanmar (176th), where the February 2021 coup d’état set press freedom back by 10 years, as well as China, Turkmenistan (177th), Iran (178th), Eritrea (179th) and North Korea (180th) according to RSF.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
