Turkey has moved up to the 158th place out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on World Press Freedom Day. Despite this improvement from last year’s 165th ranking, it doesn’t necessarily signal progress in media freedom, as the nation still faces a dire lack of press freedom.
The RSF report finds that Turkey’s rise to the 158th position this year is not necessarily due to a liberalization of the media landscape but is mainly due to setbacks faced by countries like India, Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus, and Bangladesh, which ranked higher than Turkey in the previous index, especially in terms of “political” and “security” indicators over the past year.
The RSF Index evaluates five indicators: “Political,” “Security,” “Economic,” “Socio-cultural,” and “Legal.” The “Political” indicator, reflecting the support and respect for media independence in the face of political pressures, shows a decline both in Turkey and globally.
Turkey’s decline in political indicators, particularly in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region, is notable. Turkey’s Political score dropped from 33.97 out of 100 in 2023 to 31.6 in 2024, indicating a loss of 2.37 points.
Developments such as media bias in public broadcasting and the arrest of numerous journalists from Kurdish language media outlets have weakened media freedom in Turkey due to political factors leading up to the General Elections held in last year in May.
The RSF report also expressed concern about the re-election of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party in Turkey, highlighting ongoing issues such as the imprisonment of journalists and persistent efforts to weaken the media through almost systematic online censorship and judicial control.
Turkey’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has fluctuated over the years, going from 99th in 2002 to 165th last year, with variations in between.
Disinformation Trends During Election Years
The RSF Ranking, which asserts that only 1% of the global population resides in countries with press freedom, highlights the sobering reality that press freedom is under threat from those entrusted with protecting it, particularly political authorities.
Among the five indicators comprising a country’s score, the “political” indicator experienced the most significant decline globally in 2024, dropping by a total of 7.6 points.
Medyascope'un günlük e-bülteni
Andaç'a abone olun
Editörlerimizin derlediği öngörüler, analizler, Türkiye’yi ve dünyayı şekillendiren haberler, Medyascope’un e-bülteni Andaç‘la her gün mail kutunuzda.
According to experts participating in the survey that generated the Index, at least 138 out of 180 countries reported that political actors regularly engage in propaganda or disinformation campaigns, leading 31 countries to be labeled as having “systematic” practices in this regard.
Although 2024 marked the most widespread election year in global history, decisive elections also took place in 2023, notably in Latin America, where adversaries of press freedom and pluralistic news ascended to power; such as in Argentina, which plummeted 26 spots to 66th place after Javier Milei closed the country’s largest news agency.
According to RSF, governments and political authorities are increasingly failing in their roles as custodians of journalism and the public access to trustworthy, independent, and diverse information. RSF noted a concerning decrease in support for and acknowledgment of media independence, coupled with a rise in pressures emanating from states or other political actors.
The International Community’s Failure to Protect Journalists
Since October 2023, the conflict in Gaza has seen an alarming increase in violations against journalists and the media: At least 100 Palestinian journalists, including 22 killed while on duty, have fallen victim to the bombing campaign by the Israel Defense Forces. In the 2024 RSF Index, Palestine under occupation and under Israeli bombardment (ranked 157th) emerged as one of the ten most perilous countries for journalists’ safety worldwide.
While Israel (ranked 101st) faces complaints by RSF in the International Court of Justice for the deaths of journalists in Gaza and endeavors to suppress news coverage from the besieged area, disinformation from the Israeli government continues to seep into the media landscape.
Losing its top position in the Middle East to Qatar (ranked 84th), Israel has descended from the “problematic” to the “bad” category in press freedom. Additionally, the Middle East has become the world’s top region for imprisoning journalists due to mass arrests in Israel, Saudi Arabia (166th), Syria (179th), and Iran (176th).
Russian-style Pressures Reach Serbia
While Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent electoral victory did not come as a surprise, the conflict in Ukraine (61), continues to cause significant damage to the media landscape and journalist safety. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, countries like Belarus (167th, down 10 spots), Georgia (103rd), Kyrgyzstan (120th), and Azerbaijan (164th, down 13 spots) have intensified media censorship by emulating Russia’s tactics. The report finds that Russia’s influence now extends into Serbia where pro-government media has been engaged in distributing Russian propaganda, and authorities threaten Russian journalists in exile. The increasing authoritarianism has caused Serbia to slip 7 points down on the list to the 98 th ranking.
Hostility Towards Media in the US, “Orbanization” in the EU
As the US (ranked 55th) gears up for the 2028 Presidential elections, politicians openly display partiality against the media, sometimes even calling for journalists’ imprisonment, resulting in a sudden drop of ten spots in the Index. Legally embattled former President Trump has called for the arrests of journalists multiple times; most recently for jailing journalists who broke Supreme Court’s draft abortion decision. During his 2016 election bid, Mr. Trump also famously called for “opening up of libel laws” in the United States to be able to suppress press freedom through lawfare.
While the European Union lays the groundwork with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which seeks to protect journalists through measures such as a ban on the use of spyware against journalists, mandatory disclosure of ownership information for all media outlets, the EU still faces a risk of “Orbanization.” Leaders like Victor Orban in Hungary (ranked 67th) and Robert Fico in Slovakia (ranked 29th) are actively stifling independent journalism, through such measures as Media Consolidation and lawfare, the report finds. Even Norway, leading in the EU, saw a decline in press freedom scores, while Ireland (ranked 8th) relinquished its leading position in the EU to Denmark (ranked 2nd) due to political parties’ judicial attempts to suppress press freedom. Sweden (ranked 3rd) follows Denmark.
Original story by Özgecan Özgenç
Source: RSF
