The organization assures that the internal rifts of liberal democracies and international confrontations are affecting press freedom.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in its annual report of the World Press Freedom Daywarned about the polarization in the media aspectboth within states and internationally.
The organization describes a situation of “informative chaosbecause of the globalized digital media space, which is “unregulated” and “prefers false information and propaganda”.
On the one hand, RSF warns that “Fox News-esque” media outlets have sprung up within liberal democracies and “disinformation circuits, powered by social networks” have become rife. According to the organization, all this causes social rifts to increase, ie the internal society of the States becomes polarized.
On the other hand, on a global scale, RSF draws an asymmetric scenario in which on the one hand ‘open societies’ face each other and on the other hand ‘despotic regimes that control their media and their platforms’ propaganda’ between the two weaken democracy and ultimately increase ‘tensions’ .
RSF has the invasion of Ukraine by means of Russia as “emblematic” in the phenomenon of polarization, as the “propaganda war” played a vital role in its preparation, as both sides and their allies accused each other of encouraging confrontation.
In its world ranking, the situation of China, which has “used its legislative arsenal to curtail and isolate its population from the rest of the world,” also deserves a separate mention for the organization. RSF also highlights the confrontation between India Yes Pakistan and in between Israel Palestine and the Arab countries”, which affects freedom of the press.
The problems of liberal democracies, on the other hand, are the internal fractures of companies, such as in United States one of both France, where “the height of social and political tensions is fueled by social networks and by new media”. “In some ‘illiberal democracies’, the repression of the independent press is a factor of intense polarization,” says RSF, which explicitly describes the internal situation of Polandwhere the Basque journalist Pablo González is imprisoned.
Reporters Without Borders defines freedom of the press as “the effective opportunity for journalists, as individuals and as a group, to select, produce and disseminate information for the common good, regardless of political, economic, legal and social interference, and without threat to their physical and mental safety Based on this classification, it produces a ranking of 180 countries to which it gives a note and a situation, from “good” to “very serious”.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
