Bangladesh ranks 165th in the World Free Media Index with a score of 27.64. Bangladesh is ranked 165th out of 180 countries this year. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a France-based organization working on media freedom around the world, released the index on Friday (May 3).
Nepal has occupied the top position in terms of media freedom in South Asia; the country has occupied the 74th position with 60.52 points. Next is Maldives. The country is at the 106th position with 52.36 points. In this year's list, Bhutan fell from the first position and got the third place. The country is at the 147th position with 37.29 points.
Among South Asian countries, Bangladesh is ahead of only Afghanistan. Bangladesh is ranked behind India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India are at the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively. The global position of these three countries is 150, 152 and 159 respectively.
India has got the 159th position two steps ahead of last year's 161st. Afghanistan ranks last among South Asian countries. 26 steps behind, the country's global position is 178th, only 19.09 points.
According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region ranks second in the world in terms of journalistic challenges. The report named Myanmar, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan as the most dangerous places to work for journalists.
Norway has retained its top position in the global index. Their points are 91.89. The rest of the top ten countries are Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, Portugal, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany.
Through the World Free Media Index, the extent to which journalists in different countries and regions of the world carry out their duties independently is verified. Five factors are taken into account in this index. These are political context, legal infrastructure, economic context, socio-economic conditions and security.
The report also states that free media around the world are facing threats from political authorities, as confirmed by the significant decline in the political index. The global average of this index has fallen by 7.6 percent this year.