2018 World Press Freedom Index, which ranks freedom of journalists in 180 countries, raises safety concerns.
Journalists around the world face more hostility towards their work, a trend encouraged by an increasing number of politicians inhibiting journalism, according to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index.
The annual report, published on Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects the state of journalism around the globe.
According to the index, journalists face more hatred than last year, not only in authoritarian countries but also increasingly in countries with democratically elected leaders.
Norway tops the list as the country where journalists have the most freedom, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands. North Korea is at the bottom of the list, just below Eritrea and Turkmenistan.
The Gambia has seen the biggest improvement in press freedom, rising 21 spots to 122 out of 180. It is followed by South Korea and Greece, which rose 20 and 14 places respectively.
Looking at the smaller scope, let’s have a look at how Southeast Asian countries are doing in this area. Their ranks and index score are as follows:
| COUNTRY | 2018 INDEX | 2017 INDEX | GLOBAL SCORE (2018) | GLOBAL SCORE (2017) |
| Timor Leste | 95 | 98 | 30.81 | 32.82 |
| Indonesia | 124 | 124 | 39.68 | 39.93 |
| Philippines | 133 | 127 | 42.53 | 41.08 |
| Myanmar | 137 | 131 | 43.15 | 41.82 |
| Thailand | 140 | 142 | 44.31 | 44.69 |
| Cambodia | 142 | 132 | 45.90 | 42.07 |
| Malaysia | 145 | 144 | 47.41 | 46.89 |
| Singapore | 151 | 151 | 50.95 | 51.10 |
| Brunei | 153 | 156 | 51.48 | 53.72 |
| Laos | 170 | 170 | 66.41 | 66.41 |
| Vietnam | 175 | 175 | 75.05 | 73.96 |
From this particular result, can we serve a better press freedom practices in the region? What say you?
Source : https://rsf.org/en/ranking
