Phl drops to 147th in World Press Freedom Index

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – The Philippines slid yesterday to 147th place among 179 countries included in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index released by the France-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres or RSF).

In the 2011-2012 World Press Freedom Index, the Philippines was in 140th place.

While the latest index did not mention much about the Philippines, a check on the country’s annual performance showed a decline compared to the 2002 records when the RSF started the annual World Press Freedom Index.

RSF records showed that in 2002, the country was in 90th place in the World Press Freedom Index, then dropped to 139th in 2005, climbed a little bit to 128th in 2007, and dropped again to 140th in 2011-2012.

The latest index noted Burma’s jump by 18 notches is an exception to the decline in freedom of information in Asia. In the 2012 index, Burma was in 169th place, but climbed to 151st this year.

Benjamin Ismail, head of the Asia-Pacific Desk of the RSF, said that “there are no longer journalists or cyber dissidents in the jails of the old military dictatorship in Burma.”

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Legislative reform has only just begun but the steps already taken by the government in favor of the media, such as an end to prior censorship and the permitted return of media organizations from exile, are significant steps toward genuine freedom of information,” Ismail said.

However, other countries in Asia like China, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea showed no sign of improvement.

According to RSF, North Korea (178th), China (173rd), Vietnam (172nd) and Laos (168th), all ruled by authoritarian parties, still refuse to grant their citizens the freedom to be informed.

“The control of news and information is a key issue for these governments, which are horrified at the prospect of being open to criticism. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father Kim Jong-il on 30 December 2011, appears to rule in concert with the military junta,” the RSF said.

The report also said that the top three countries that respect press freedom are Finland, Netherlands and Norway.

However, the RSF said that the ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments like the Arab Spring last year.

“This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments toward media freedom in the medium or long term,” the RSF said.

Coinciding with the release of its 2013 Press Freedom Index, the RSF published for the first time an annual global indicator of worldwide media freedom.

They said that the new analytic tool measures the overall level of freedom of information in the world and the performance of the world’s governments in their entirety as regards key freedoms. – Dino Balabo, Artemio Dumlao, Philippine Star