NGO Reporters Without Borders defends Press Freedom Index rankings after state-backed media criticism

NGO Reporters Without Borders defends Press Freedom Index rankings after state-backed media criticism

State-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao has blasted Reporters Without Borders (RSF), calling the NGO “a political thug” and its press freedom rankings “a political smear tool.” Reporters ask questions at a government press conference in Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.In a Chinese op-ed published on Saturday, the newspaper claimed that RSF did not represent “the true media industry.”“RSF has long become a political thug, and the World Press Free…

In recent days, an obvious campaign coordinated by numerous Argentine media tried to install the false narrative that freedom of the press is being restricted in Argentina. The focus of this operation was the publication of the new ranking of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a European organization with funding of dubious impartiality, which [...]

Pakistan Ranked 158 of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index 2025

In May 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual World Press Freedom Index, placing Pakistan at 158 out of 180 countries—its lowest rank in years. This significant drop reflects an increasingly hostile environment for journalists, with press freedom under systematic assault from multiple fronts: legal persecution, digital censorship, economic coercion, gendered harassment, and unchecked violence. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed democra…