Press freedom in South Asia in decline

Press and media freedom in various countries in the South Asian region, such as Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, is in decline, says US-based democracy monitor Freedom House. Independent media organisations in these countries are worse off than in previous years, mainly due to stricter censorship. Pakistan is now one of the worst places in the world to be a journalist.

The Freedom House report, “Freedom of the Press 2012”, published this week, says that while major improvements have been made in various parts of the world – mainly North Africa and the Middle East – other regions suffer further declines in press freedom.

Ranking
Freedom House ranks 197 countries based on their levels of free and open press. The list is topped by mainly Western European countries such as Finland, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, which enjoy the highest level of press and media freedom in the world. North Korea finished at the bottom.
The annual index is based on three categories: the legal environment in which media operate, the level of political influence on reporting and the access to information, and the economic pressures on media content.
All countries are labeled as either “Free”, “Partly Free” or “Not Free”, depending on their score.
India
Highest ranked South Asian country is India at number 80, which is one of the “Partly Free” countries. Its score is worse than in 2011, when it was ranked at number 77. “There is a worrying attempt to extend content controls over the internet,” says Freedom House. It also cites the killing of a newspaper editor in Mumbai in 2011 as one of the threats to full freedom for the media.
“There’s a need for vigilance in democracies such as India as there were various pressures that impinged on press freedom in 2011,” Freedom House warns.
Pakistan
Pakistan is also sliding down the scale, as it drops ten places from last year’s number 134 to this year’s 144. Freedom House says threats against the press from various sides reached “unprecedented levels.”
“Pakistan is now among the deadliest countries in the world for journalists,” says the report, citing findings by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists . (A report published by the CPJ last month, said that India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are among the top 12 countries with the world’s worst records when it comes to journalist killings).
Self-censorship
Because of the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, Freedom House says that self-censorship in the country’s media is on the increase, particularly on sensitive issues such as blasphemy laws and the role (and reach) of the security forces.
The situation in Sri Lanka – for years listed as “Not Free” by Freedom House – has also worsened, with the country now ranked at number 161, down from last year’s number 156. The Maldives are also down five places, from 102 to 107. Bangladesh is ranked 111th, slightly better than last year’s 112th.
Nepal improving
Only one country in the South Asian region is registering significant improvements. Nepal has gone up eleven places in the world ranking, from 128 to 117. According to Freedom House, the country now offers better access to information and there is a decline in state censorship on the media.
Compared to the rest of the Asian region, conditions in South Asia are “significantly worse”, says Freedom House, adding that only five percent of the whole Asian region has now access to fully free media.
In all, only 14 percent of the world’s population now has free access to media, the lowest percentage since Freedom House began tallying these numbers in its reports in 1996.
Radio Netherlands target region
The Freedom House index was used by Radio Netherlands Worldwide recently to determine which countries or regions it should target in the future. Based on last year’s index, South Asia was not selected as the separate countries were not deemed sufficiently "un-free".
Regions that did get selected by RNW, such as the Middle East, however, are now showing large improvements in media freedom. Another new RNW focus region, sub-Sahara Africa, saw a small decline, but still fared better than in the years prior to 2009.
These are the rankings of South Asian countries, with last year's positions in brackets:
80 (77) India - Partly Free
107 (102) The Maldives - Partly Free
111 (112) Bangladesh - Partly Free
117 (128) Nepal - Partly Free
127 (124) Bhutan - Partly Free
144 (134) Pakistan - Not Free
161 (156) Sri Lanka - Not Free