Figure 2: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Context:

• The Centre does not agree with the conclusions drawn by Reporters Without Borders about press freedom in India .

Reasons by the Centre:

• Very low sample size
• Little or no weightage to the fundamentals of democracy
• Adoption of the methodology by the publisher of the report is “questionable and non-transparent

About Press Freedom Index:

• India dropped two places on the global press freedom index ranking to 142nd place.
• India’s neighbors — Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — are ranked higher in the list.
• It is released by Reporters Without Borders.
• It has been published every year since 2002.
• The Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
• It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region.
• It does not rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking.
• It is not an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country or region.

Reports Without Borders:

• Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris.
• RSF is an independent NGO with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).

Download PDF