The 2020 World Press Freedom Index has ranked South Africa fourth in Africa and 31st in the world. Namibia is ranked first in Africa and 23rd in the world, out of 180 countries.
Norway is ranked first in the world followed by Finland, Demark and Sweden. North Korea is the last on the list.
The Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), shows that the coming decade will be decisive for the future of journalism, with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting and amplifying what could threaten the right to report reliable information freely and independently.
Some Johannesburg-based journalists had this to say.
“Media practitioners, journalists, who show society what is happening and help explain these unprecedented times, is not a luxury. It’s a necessity. We need people on the ground who are still amplifying voices that wouldn’t be necessarily be heard. Nothing cracks or rattles a foundation of structural oppression or injustice, like a well-informed public,” says one journalist.
Another one claims that media freedom in South Africa still exists. “We are lucky that we are able to write about corruption, wrongdoing in government, those that are taking money that is meant for the poor. We are even able to write about the president without being prosecuted or being targeted.”
