Press freedom continues to deteriorate in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a
new report by Reporters Without Borders, with 26 out of 32 countries and territories sliding in its annual index on press freedom.
The 2024 World Press Freedom Index finds that the region's dictatorial governments, including last year's bottom-placers North Korea and China, "have been tightening their hold over news and information with increasing vigor."
Described as a region where "journalism is
suffocating under the weight of authoritarian governments," countries in the Asia-Pacific have the second-worst press freedom situation in the world following only the Maghreb-Middle East region, the media watchdog said. Five countries in Asia – Myanmar, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Vietnam – remain among the world’s 10 most dangerous countries for journalists.
The press freedom index highlights totalitarian Asian governments' systematic incarceration of media personnel, frequent persecution of journalists based on what they report, and the restriction of people's access to information.
RSF said that China continues to be the world's worst jailer of journalists and maintains strict control over information channels, using censorship and surveillance to regulate online content and limit the spread of information sensitive or contrary to the Chinese Communist Party.
Vietnam and Myanmar, meanwhile, have “pursued a policy of mass imprisonment of media personnel” and are the world’s fourth and second biggest jailers of journalists, respectively.
For countries in South Asia – where democracy has been in
decline – the RSF noted a spike in election-related violence against journalists “with an almost total impunity.” In Bangladesh, Pakistan and India – countries scheduled to hold their elections in the first half of 2024 – journalists were murdered, harassed, and/or became victims of enforced disappearances.
The region’s governments’ increasing hostility toward the media and other press freedom challenges have been documented in two earlier reports focusing on Southeast Asia and South Asia.
A joint monitoring platform launched by Southeast Asian media organizations,
pfmsea.org, found that nearly half of all documented attacks against journalists in 2023 were perpetrated by state actors. Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists’ 2023-2024 press freedom report for South Asia found that democratic progress in the region has largely stalled, and
jailings, legal harassment, and assaults against media workers remain rampant.