Bangladesh two notches down on World Press Freedom Index 2024

Bangladesh has ranked 165th out of 180 countries, slipping two notches on the World Press Freedom Index 2024.

The report was prepared by the Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters Sans Frontiers, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on Friday. Norway has again ranked top in the index with a score of 91.89, followed by Denmark.

In this year’s index, Bangladesh scored 27.64 out of 100, down by 7.67 from last year or 2023’s score of 35.31. In 2021, Bangladesh ranked 152nd with a score of 50.29. In the latest index, Bangladesh is placed only above Afghanistan among South Asian countries.

Nepal has become the leader in press freedom in South Asia, ranking 74th. Pakistan is ranked 152nd and India 159th. And Afghanistan is ranked at the bottom of the region at 178th.

The World Press Freedom Index 2024 report alleged that the state broadcasters in Bangladesh function as government propaganda outlets.

The private sector media landscape includes 3,000 print media outlets, daily or periodic, 30 radio stations – including some community radio stations – 30 TV channels and several hundred news sites. However, there are no independent or opposition-owned TV news channels, added the report.

It alleged that in political context--supporters of the ruling Awami League regularly launch violent physical attacks targeted against journalists they dislike, while judicial harassment campaigns are carried out to silence certain journalists or force media outlets to close.

A few months before the national elections on 7 January 2024, the government introduced the Cyber Security Act (CSA), a poor copy of the Digital Security Act (DSA), one of the world’s most draconian laws for journalists. In this environment, editors routinely censor themselves, said the report.

Most of the leading privately owned media are owned by a handful of great businessmen who emerged during Bangladesh’s economic boom, according to the report.

As a result, it is very often government representatives who decide who will be the guests on the evening talk shows on privately owned TV channels. Many newspapers are dependent on state funding and imported newsprint, the report added.

Bangladeshi journalists are all the more vulnerable because this violence goes unpunished, stated the report.

Describing the global situation of the press freedom, the report said that press freedom around the world is being threatened by the very people who should be its guarantors – political authorities

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, it said.

The latest index assessed freedom enjoyed by journalists and media across the globe and analysed five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and safety. In the Asia-Pacific region – the world’s second most difficult region for practicing journalism – five countries are among the world’s ten most dangerous countries for media personnel: Myanmar (171st), China (172nd), North Korea (177th), Vietnam (174th) and Afghanistan (178th). But, unlike last year, none of the region’s countries is in the Index’s top 15, the report added.

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