Reporters Without Borders

Paris – Slovenia has lost four spots to rank 36th among 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the report warning of the “dangerous path for press freedom” in Slovenia.

Photo Illustration: Pixabay / AndyLeungHK

Reporters Without Borders, RSF, released its annual Press Freedom Index report on Tuesday with a warning that media freedom has deteriorated across the world during the coronavirus pandemic, with governments using the crisis to assert more control over the press.

There's been a "dramatic deterioration" of press freedom since the pandemic tore across the world, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual report published Tuesday.

in this year's ranking Bulgaria is 112th from a total of 180 countries included in the index, the Paris-based NGO announced on its website.

Addressing a press conference in Vienna on March 16, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov made a claim that critics say hardly stands up to scrutiny.

"In Bulgaria," he said, "freedom of speech is so encompassing that other countries hardly compare."

The International Press Institute said on Tuesday that it has joined four other media watchdog organisations in writing to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to express concerns over a decline in press freedom in Slovenia since the government of Janez Jansa came to power.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published a list of 10 recommendations  to address what they called "the dire press freedom situation in Bulgaria" weeks ahead of elections due early next month.

Ljubljana – A group of 19 NGOs and associations advocating media and human rights urged the EU on Tuesday to “take decisive action to protect independent journalism” in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. The call comes a day before a debate on threats to media freedom in the three countries to be held at the European Parliament.

Female journalists feel unsafe working in at least 40 countries, a new report released Monday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) concluded.

Most of the female journalists listed sexual harassment as the biggest issue they face in their home countries. Nearly 85% of the respondents said the harassment is common; 30% said it often leads to sexual assault.

"After I confirmed it with my sources, I reported the situation", Can, who at the time worked for the local Izmir newspaper Iz Gazete, told BIRN.

Pressed to name his sources, Can refused. Hours of questioning resulted in a charge of spreading fake news and causing panic. The case was dropped several months later, but Can's chilling experience was far from a one-off. 

The Vienna office of the Reporters Without Borders announced that the BIRN Network has been awarded for its courageous investigative journalism in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, and for its dedication to the fight for human rights, democracy and justice for the victims of war crimes.