Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia- 2016/04/21

NGO Right to Know says press freedom in South Africa is better than most countries in the world.

The release of the Press Freedom Index was released by Reporters without Borders this week.

The Index which is one of the most authoritative indices on Press Freedom is based on an evaluation of media freedom, media independence and the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries.

South Africa has been ranked 39th in the world for press freedom, according to the latest Index.

According to the report – Europe (with 19.8 points) still has the freest media, followed by Africa (36.9), which for the first time has overtaken the Americas (37.1), a region where violence against journalists is on the rise.

Right2Know’s Micah Reddy says since post apartheid, South Africa had a good rating, however this has changed considerably.

“We had pretty good sitting in the rankings, but recently we’ve slumped hugely and fell down with a lot of countries we wouldn’t want to be ranked alongside.”

He says South Africa is still better off in terms of Press Freedom than that of Angola, Swaziland and Zimbabwe where journalists face severe repression.

“We sitting quite comfortably, but that said, for a democracy with the sort of progressive constitution that we have, we should be sitting a lot higher.”

Reddy says this proves the sort of disconnect between the constitution and the environment that South African journalists are operating in.

The index is compiled by means of a questionnaire in 20 languages that is completed by experts all over the world.

Twitter:@thedabhelia

(Edited By Faizel Patel)