By Benjamin Wickham
WINDHOEK, May 4 — On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its annual World Press Freedom Index, coinciding with the United Nations observation of the 30th annual Press Freedom Day. The report shows that the US has slipped three spots in press freedom under President Joe Biden, but RSF is hesitant to blame Biden’s administration for the decline. Instead, it cited the erosion of press freedom in Asia, which has been exacerbated by the “fake content industry,” which is growing much worse thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) technology, as a major concern.
The report ranks the US 45th in press freedom, below countries such as Namibia and East Timor. However, RSF is more concerned with the fact that many popular news outlets are owned by a handful of wealthy individuals. The organization blames Biden only for not doing enough to shore up weakening local news outlets, and for allowing more than a dozen states and communities in the US to propose or enact laws limiting journalists’ access to public spaces.
The report raises questions about efforts to measure freedom worldwide, which often view left-wing policies as synonymous with “freedom,” even when they are coercive. It also notes that journalists themselves could be responsible for declining press freedom, citing the White House question-feeding scandal as an example of media outlets voluntarily colluding with assaults on journalism.
The report notes that economic constraints, such as newspaper closures and losses in subscriptions, drastically impact journalists working in the US. However, some of the biggest layoffs and total collapses are hitting media operations notorious for their dishonesty and political biases. Declining press freedom cannot be blamed on a public that loses interest in shoddy and untrustworthy products, and no serious advocate of journalistic freedom would suggest the solution is more state funding and control of the media to alleviate its financial concerns.
In conclusion, RSF’s World Press Freedom Index report shows that press freedom is in decline globally. While regimes like China that throw reporters in jail pose a clear threat to press freedom, regimes that embrace reporters as their ideological soulmates and expect them to push the ruling Party agenda with every publication and broadcast also pose a threat. Therefore, advocates for press freedom should not blame the public for weakening journalism by turning away from reporters who conceal the truth but rather focus on supporting independent journalism that is free from political biases and economic constraints. – Namibia Daily News
