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India's ranking in a global press freedom index has fallen significantly in the past year, putting it behind countries such as Liberia, Kyrgyzstan, South Sudan and Albania. India fell to 131 out of 179 on the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, from 122 last year.
The index uses 44 different criteria “ranging from censorship of news media to physical attacks on journalists, and the ability of the media to investigate and criticise” and “reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news media, and netizens enjoy in each country and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom,” the US organisation said.
On the list, the Arab nations of Syria, Bahrain and Yemen were the biggest fallers, reflecting the crackdowns on the popular uprisings. “Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy,” said the organisation. “Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous.”
The US fell 27 points to 47, as a result of the arrest of journalists covering the Occupy movement, while China fell to 174 because of a stepping up of Internet censorship and increased control of news outlets as a result of local protests. The top position was shared by Finland and Norway, followed jointly by Estonia and Netherlands. Eritrea remained at the bottom position, a position it has held since 2007.
In India, RwB pointed to the exposure of violence of journalist as a result of the ongoing conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, as well as intimidation of journalists by mafia groups in the country's biggest cities. “However the authorities were no better,” they warned, pointing to the “dangerous implications” of the Information technology Rules 2011 introduced last year and which requires Internet firms to remove “harassing”, “obscene”, “libellous” and other forms of content or risk prosecution. Foreign journalists were also impacted, with troubles obtaining visas, and pressure to give the country positive coverage, the organisation said.
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