China slipped to second from the bottom in terms of press freedom

Reporters Without Borders released its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, which ranked China second to last out of 180 countries, beating only North Korea. Hong Kong ranked 140th, up 8 places. Taiwan ranked 35th, up three places. Reporters Without Borders says the Chinese government uses surveillance, coercion, intimidation and harassment to prevent independent journalists from reporting on “sensitive” issues. China is the world’s largest prison for journalists, with more than 100 jailed.

On May 3, World Press Day, the France-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its World Press Freedom Index 2023. Norway ranked first among 180 countries and regions for the seventh year in a row. Ireland came second with two improvements, a rare non-Nordic country; Denmark slipped one place to third.

The bottom three are all Asian countries, with North Korea at the bottom. China dropped four more to 179, the second lowest for press freedom in the world, and is one of the world’s biggest jailers for journalists and exporters of propaganda. Vietnam, which hounds independent journalists and critics, was third from bottom with 178.

According to a report by Reporters Without Borders, the Chinese government uses surveillance, coercion, intimidation and harassment to prevent independent journalists from reporting on “sensitive” issues. China is the world’s largest prison for journalists, with more than 100 jailed.

The Chinese constitution guarantees so-called “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press,” but the government often violates them with impunity, she said. To further silence journalists, the authorities often charge them with three “pocket crimes”: “espionage,” “subversion” or “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

The law also allows independent journalists to be held incommunicado for six months in Chinese “black jails” where they are placed under “designated residence surveillance” without access to legal representation and may be subjected to torture.

According to the Reporters Without Borders report, Taiwan improved three places to 35th this year. “Taiwan’s rise in the rankings does not represent a real improvement in Taiwan’s media environment, but is the result of other countries falling in the rankings,” said an industry insider. Respondents to the index show that Taiwan still suffers from media polarization and pressure from media owners, which poses certain obstacles to quality reporting.”