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THERE has been a dramatic deterioration of press freedom since the pandemic tore across the world, Reporters Without Borders said in its annual report today.
The group’s new World Press Freedom Index, evaluating the state of the press in 180 countries, paints a stark picture, concluding that 73 per cent of the world’s nations have serious issues with media freedoms.
It says countries have used the coronavirus pandemic, which erupted in China in late 2019, “as grounds to block journalists’ access to information, sources and reporting in the field.”
This is particularly the case in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, the campaign group said.
Issues have also arisen from a drop in public trust in journalism itself. Reporters Without Borders said that 59 per cent of people polled in 28 countries claimed that journalists “deliberately try to mislead the public by reporting information they know to be false.”
