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20 April 2021 At a time when the health crisis is making information coverage even more difficult, the alarm launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on press freedom affects many countries around the world. 73% of the 180 countries evaluated are characterized by situations considered "very serious", "difficult" or "problematic" for the profession. Only 12 out of 180 countries, or 7%, compared to 8% in 2020, show a "good situation". A "white zone" that "has never" been "so small since 2013", according to the NGO. 



In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic represented "a form of opportunity for governments to limit freedom of the press," RSF general secretary Christophe Deloire told France Presse. The repression has therefore worsened further in the countries where press freedom is most compromised, such as Saudi Arabia and Syria, respectively at one hundred and seventieth and one hundred and seventy-third places in the ranking. The pandemic has also "caused an enormous blockade of access" to the territory and to the sources for journalists ", partly legitimate, when it came to health precautions, but also illegitimate, Deloire warned.



The situation is all the more worrying as journalism is the main bulwark against the "virality of disinformation across borders, on digital platforms and social networks", sometimes fueled by power. Presidents Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil (111 / m position, -4) and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela (148 / m position, -1) thus "promoted drugs whose effectiveness has never been demonstrated by the medical world", recalls the NGO. . In Iran (174 / m position, -1) the authorities "multiplied the sentences of journalists to better minimize the number of deaths linked" to Covid-19. Egypt (166 / m position), for its part, prohibits "the publication of data on the pandemic other than those of the Ministry of Health".



Malaysia, which marks the sharpest retreat (119 / m position, -18), recently approved "an anti-fake news decree" that grants the "government the right to impose its own version of the truth". And in Hungary (92 / m position, -3), where Viktor Orban's regime "brazenly pushes forward" the repression of press freedom, information on the coronavirus is "blocked" in particular by the emergency legislation in force by March 2020 criminalizing the "dissemination" of false information ".



At the bottom of the ranking there are still China (177 / mo place), ahead of Turkmenistan (178 / mo place, +1), North Korea (179 / mo place, +1) and Eritrea (180 / mo place, - 2). At the top of the table, Norway maintains first place for the fifth consecutive year, ahead of Finland and Sweden, who have returned to third at the expense of Denmark. Note the exit of Germany (13th place, -2) from the white zone because dozens of journalists were attacked "by demonstrators close to extremist and conspiratorial movements during demonstrations against health restrictions".



Europe remains the safest region, but aggressions and abusive arrests have multiplied, especially in France (34 / mo place) during demonstrations against restrictions, in Italy (41 / mo place), Poland (64 / mo place) place, -2), Greece (70 / mo place, -5), Serbia (93 / mo place) and Bulgaria (112 / mo place, -1). Across the Atlantic, the situation remains "pretty good" in the United States (44 / mo place, +1) "even though Donald Trump's last year in office was characterized by a record number of attacks (almost 400 ) and arrests of journalists (130).



The red zone now welcomes Brazil, where "insults, stigmatization and orchestration of the public humiliations of journalists" have "become the hallmark of President Bolsonaro". The situation in Russia always leaves something to be desired (150 / mo place, -1), a nation that has worked to "limit coverage" of "demonstrations linked to the opponent Aleksei Navalny". Finally, while remaining the "most violent" continent for journalists, Africa is seeing some improvements in countries such as Burundi (147 / mo place, +13), Sierra Leone (75 / mo place, +10) and the Mali (99 / mo place, +9).