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2024 World Press Freedom Index – journalism under political pressure [1]

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Date: 2024-05 

At the international level, this year is notable for a clear lack of political will on the part of the international community to enforce the principles of protection of journalists, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2222. The war in Gaza has been marked by a record number of violations against journalists and the media since October 2023. More than 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed by the Israel Defence Forces, including at least 22 in the course of their work.

Occupied and under constant Israeli bombardment, Palestine is ranked 157th out of 180 countries and territories surveyed in the overall 2024 World Press Freedom Index, but it is ranked among the last 10 with regard to security for journalists ( see the 2024 World Press Freedom Index security ranking ).

Journalism vs disinformation in a super election year

While 2024 is the biggest election year in world history, 2023 also saw decisive elections, especially in Latin America, that were won by self-proclaimed predators of press freedom and media plurality, like Javier Milei in Argentina (down 26 to 66th), who shut down the country’s biggest news agency in a worrisome symbolic act.

Elections are often accompanied by violence against journalists, as in Nigeria (112th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (123rd). The military juntas that seized power in coups in the Sahel, especially Niger (down 19 to 80th), Burkina Faso (down 28 to 86th) and Mali (down one to 114th), continue to tighten their grip on the media and obstruct journalists’ work. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reelection in Türkiye is also a source of some concern: ranked 158th, the country’s placement in the Index continues to lose points in the Index.

In the absence of regulation, the use of generative AI in the arsenal of disinformation for political purposes is a concern. Deepfakes now occupy a leading position in influencing the course of elections. This was evidenced by the audio deepfake of the journalist Monika Todova during the parliamentary elections in Slovakia (down 12 to 29th), one of the first documented cases of this type of attack on a journalist with the aim of influencing the outcome of a democratic election.

Many governments have stepped up their control over social media and the Internet, restricting access, blocking accounts, and suppressing messages carrying news and information. Journalists who say what they think on social media in Vietnam (174th) are almost systematically locked up. In China (172nd), in addition to detaining more journalists than any other country in the world, the government continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line.

Some political groups fuel hatred and distrust of journalists by insulting them, discrediting them, and threatening them. Others are orchestrating a takeover of the media ecosystem, whether through state-owned media under their control, or privately owned media via acquisitions by allied businessmen. Giorgia Meloni’s Italy (46th) – where a member of the ruling parliamentary coalition is trying to acquire the second biggest news agency (AGI) – has fallen five places this year.

Political groups often serve as channels of dissemination, or even instigators of disinformation campaigns. In more than three quarters of the countries evaluated in the Index (138 countries), the majority of the questionnaire respondents reported that political actors in their countries were often involved in propaganda or disinformation campaigns. This involvement was described as “systematic” in 31 countries.

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[1] Url: https://rsf.org/en/2024-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-under-political-pressure?data_type=general&year=2024

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