~by: Ravi Philemon~
Singapore has moved up to 135th place in the Press Freedom Index 2011/2012 compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RWB). In the 2010 index, Singapore was ranked 136th.
The new index showed that Singapore was ahead of regional countries like Thailand (137), the Philippines (140) and Indonesia (146).
Finland and Norway topped the press freedom survey of 179 countries, followed by Estonia.
Canada is ranked with Denmark at 10th place. The United States of America fell 27 places to be listed at number 47 due to the many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.
According to the report, Pakistan at 151 was the world’s deadliest country for journalists for the second year running.
At the bottom of the list were Turkmenistan (177), North Korea (178) and Eritrea (179).
In noting that many media personnel paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations, RWB commented on its 10th annual press freedom index that the current 'index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world.'
RWB also acknowledged the 'leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news,'
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 HERE.
