© Stéphane de Sakutin, AFP/FilePeople stand in front of a tarp in Paris depicting Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni who was sentenced to prison for his coverage of the mass protest movement that toppled Algeria's longtime president.
The group's new World Press Freedom Index, which evaluated the press situations in 180 countries, painted a stark picture and concluded that 73 percent of the world's nations have serious issues with media freedoms.
It said many countries have used the coronavirus pandemic, which erupted in China in late 2019, "as grounds to block journalists' access to information, sources and reporting in the field".
This is particularly the case in Asia, the Mideast and Europe, the media group said.
"Journalism is the best vaccine against disinformation," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire wrote in a statement.
"Unfortunately, its production and distribution are too often blocked by political, economic, technological and, sometimes, even cultural factors."
Issues have also arisen from a drop in public trust in journalism itself. The group said 59 percent of people polled in 28 countries claimed that journalists "deliberately try to mislead the public by reporting information they know to be false".
Comment: To its credit, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has (mostly) lived up to its name, not only defending Drareni and many other journalists, but also the even more persecuted Julian Assange, who has been abandoned by most organization purporting to support press freedom.
- Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of Julian Assange
- RSF reiterates call for charges against Julian Assange to be dropped
- RSF hails UK court blocking of US bid to extradite Julian Assange
- Reporters Without Borders: Israel is guilty of war crimes against the press
- Reporters Without Borders requests ICC investigation for Israeli war crimes against Palestinian journalists in Gaza
- Hostility toward journalists rising worldwide, Reporters Without Borders
- Complicit Western media stay silent on the killings of journalists that are not an 'appendage' of U.S.-NATO
- Your country's "freedom of the press" ranking corresponds to its relationship with NATO
It is however, a mixed bag, as RSF has also endorsed other groups unworthy of its stated principles. For some reason, they are supporters of the psyop White Helmets and of course, anything anti-Russia.