Freedom of press. North Africa is closer to North Korea than to Norway. By Kamel Amari*
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders, RSF, has released the 21st edition of its 2023 world ranking. This edition is a new version developed according to a methodology established in 2021 by a group of experts from the media and academia. The listing concerns 180 countries.
May 03 was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, following the recommendation of the UNESCO General Assembly held in 1991.
Despite the expansion of technological and information means, '' the freedom of the press, the safety of journalists and freedom of expression are increasingly under threat '', reads the United Nations website .
However, the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
According to RSF, the five new evaluation criteria are: “ the political context, the legal framework, the economic context, the socio-cultural context and security .”
These indicators are subject to two approaches: quantitative and qualitative. That is to say, it takes into account the '' exactions committed against journalists and the media '' as well as '' the responses of hundreds of press freedom experts selected by RSF among journalists , academics and human rights defenders. ''
According to RSF's 2023 ranking, Algeria is in 136th place with 45.74 points, among the 180 countries subject to press evaluation around the world. It thus loses two places following the “ authoritarian drift ” of the Algerian regime. It is likely that the imprisonment of journalist El Kadi Ihsane had a negative impact on this ranking. Algeria is classified in the category of countries where the press situation is considered to be '' difficult ''. If this repression continues, which is, alas, possible if not probable, the country could find itself in the " very serious " zone.''. The RSF ranking defines 5 categories of assessment of the state of the press: good, fairly good, problematic, difficult and very serious.
Regarding Tunisia, and because of the authoritarianism of President Kais Saied, the country comes in 121st place with 50.11 points. For its part, Morocco (including Western Sahara), ranks 144th with 43.69 points.
The last four countries that end up in the '' very serious '' category are: Iran, Vietnam, China and North Korea.
Norway comes in first place for the 7th consecutive year with 95.18.
This assessment is an opportunity, according to the United Nations, to “ celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, assess press freedom around the world, defend media independence and pay tribute to journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. ''
Finally, we note that according to this world ranking, the situation of the press in North Africa is closer to that of North Korea than Norway. A sign that reminds us that as long as the democratic fundamentals are ignored or amputated, any country remains in this red zone likely to tip it at any time towards a totalitarian regime.
Source : websites