World Press Freedom Day: Nigeria upped in Press Freedom Index but ‘some subjects still off limits’
Nigeria moved up in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index but there are concerns over the growing difficulties Nigerian journalists encountered when covering subjects with national security ramifications, said a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The index, published annually by RSF since 2002, measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries, including the […]
Katsina newspaper vendors mourn colleague late Nata’ala
Nigeria moved up in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index but there are concerns over the growing difficulties Nigerian journalists encountered when covering subjects with national security ramifications, said a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The index, published annually by RSF since 2002, measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries, including the level of pluralism, media independence, and respect for the safety and freedom of journalists.
The 2018 report takes account of violations that took place between January 1st and December 31st 2017.
The report, released one week before the 2018 World Press Freedom Day, placed Nigeria 119th on the global ranking, sandwiched between Afghanistan and Maldives on 118th and 120th positions respectively. Nigeria was ranked 122 in 2017.
Norway topped the list, followed by Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland. North Korea was at the bottom of the Index followed by Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Syria and China.
Ghana (23rd), Namibia (26th) and South Africa (28th) were the only African countries in the first 30 countries, the report indicated.
According to RSF, press freedom is non-existent in Eritrea (second from last at 179th), Djibouti (173rd), Burundi (159th) and Somalia (168th), where four journalists were killed in terrorist attacks in 2017.
Climate of permanent violence – RSF report on Nigeria
In what it described as a disturbing trend in Nigeria, RSF report said journalists are often harassed by the authorities, when covering subjects with national security ramifications.
Terrorism laws, it said, are used to arrest journalists, who are often accused of undermining troop morale when they refer to the difficulties of the security forces in combatting terrorism.
“In Nigeria, it is difficult to cover stories involving politics, terrorism, and financial embezzlement by the powerful. Journalists are often threatened, subjected to physical violence, or denied access to information by government officials, police, and sometimes the public itself.
“The all-powerful regional governors are often the media’s most determined persecutors and act with complete impunity,” the report said.
Reporting difficulties in Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the RSF report indicated that the continent’s overall indicator is slightly better than 2017. But there was a clear disparity in freedom of information which exists between the countries.
After a wave of liberalization in the 1990s, press freedom violations are now only too common. Frequent Internet cuts combined with frequent attacks and arrests were the region’s latest forms of censorship, RSF said.
“The financial weakness of many media outlets makes them susceptible to political and financial influence, which undermines their independence,” it said.
Mauritania (72nd) suffered the region’s biggest fall (17 places) after adopting a law under which blasphemy and apostasy are punishable by death even if the accused repents.
Investigative reporting is very risky for journalists in Africa. This is the case, for example, in Tanzania (down ten places at 93rd, one of this year’s biggest falls), where President John Magufuli tolerates no criticism.
In Madagascar (54th), a journalist was given a jail sentence (albeit suspended) for the first time in 40 years as a result of investigative reporting that exposed corruption. In Swaziland (152nd), a newspaper editor had to flee to South Africa after questioning a decision to award a license to a local mobile phone company.
In Democratic Republic of Congo (154th), Journalist in Danger (JED), RSF’s partner organization, documented 121 cases of abuses against the media in 2017.
Covering street protests is a delicate exercise in Togo (86th), Guinea (down three places at 104th), and Chad (123rd), where the country’s journalists staged a “Day without Press” protest in February 2018.
Sudan (still near the bottom of the Index at 174th) continues to be one of the continent’s riskiest places for street reporting. In January 2018, 18 journalists were arrested and several media outlets were shut down amid protests against a bread price increase.
In neighbouring South Sudan (144th), it has become almost impossible to cover the four-year-old civil war. In 2017, 20 foreign journalists were banned from the country and a freelance war reporter was fatally shot during conflict in the south.
After falling 10 places in 2016, Uganda has fallen another five places to 117th, in part because it created a special security unit to closely monitor websites and social networks.
In Côte d’Ivoire (82nd), the authorities detained eight journalists in order to ask them to name their sources for articles about sizeable army mutinies in 2017. In Somalia, journalists who interview rape victims are liable to be jailed on defamation charges.
More generally, any reporting critical of the authorities tends to get a poor reception in sub-Saharan Africa.
But a more promising era for journalists may result from the departure of three of Africa’s most predatory presidents, in Zimbabwe (up two as 126th), Angola (up four at 121st) and Gambia, whose 21-place jump to 122nd was Africa’s biggest.