ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Pakistan has been ranked at 159th position out of 180 countries which are extremely dangerous for journalists in annual report of press freedom released by by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The same group placed Pakistan at 158 last year in its annual report.
Uncertain security conditions, risk of terrorism related activities and overwhelming political influence have been all cited as the reasons behind Pakistani media’s lack of freedom.
However, Pakistani media isn’t the lone sufferer in worsening security circumstances.
Media freedom worldwide suffered a “drastic decline” last year in part because of extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, Without Borders said in its annual evaluation released Thursday.
“There has been an overall deterioration linked to very different factors, with information wars, and action by non-state groups acting like news despots,” the head of the Paris-based group, Christophe Deloire, told news agencies.
The Reporters Without Borders 2015 World Press Freedom Index stated that there were 3,719 violations of freedom of information in 180 countries in 2014 — eight per cent more than a year earlier.
All parties in conflicts raging in the Middle East and Ukraine were waging “a fearsome information war” where media personnel were directly targeted to be killed, captured or pressured to relay propaganda, it said.
