Israel ranks 88th in World Press Freedom index, U.S. ranked as 48th
The data shows that journalists worldwide are seeing increased fear and violence in their line of work as the media freedom continues to decline.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFA demonstrator holds picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest in front of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, October 5, 2018(photo credit: OSMAN ORSAL/REUTERS)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published the annual World Press Freedom Index on Thursday night, ranking 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.The data shows that journalists worldwide are seeing increased fear and violence in their line of work as media freedom continues to decline.The RSF devised an online questionnaire distributed to experts on pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.Norway tops the list as the country with most press freedom in the world, followed by Finland, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark.The US is ranked as number 48, while Israel is placed in 88th place, lower than Tunisia, Albania and Sierra Leone.The country ranked with the lowest amount of press freedom is Turkmenistan, which is placed lower than North Korea, who comes in as second to last.Saudi Arabia dropped a few spots to 172th place following the Khashoggi murder case.Other than the full ranking of the countries, the report also includes a world map classifying the rankings by color.The full list can be found at https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table
