Well done Singapore, we’ve achieved yet another milestone — sinking to a new bottom in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, making it the fourth consecutive year tumbling down the ranks.
Now landing at the dismal ranking of 154 out of 180 countries, the little red dot’s journalistic freedom and independence is deemed under intense attack in the past year. The index is based on an evaluation of media freedom that measures pluralism, media independence, quality of legal framework and safety of journalists — and we’re not doing well in those aspects. In comparison, Singapore was ranked 153rd in 2015, 150th in 2014 and 135th in 2012.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the Media Development Authority Act, the Films Act and the Broadcasting Act are the main reasons why Singapore performed pretty badly yet again. They noted that the Media Development Authority (MDA) closed down The Real Singapore because of “overly critical” content — though they forget to include that a lot of their stuff were fabricated. They also noted that defamation suits are common, with the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong personally bringing prosecutions against bloggers (but not his own sister).
Singapore may be pulling in the achievements in everything else in Southeast Asia, but press freedom ain’t one of them. Neighbours Malaysia (#146), Thailand (#136), Philippines (#138), Indonesia (#130), and even Myanmar (#143) fared better than Singapore.
As usual, Scandinavian countries top the rankings with Finland ranking 1st (since 2010), Netherlands in second place and Norway in the third. Even though we’re in the shitty tier when it comes to press freedom, just take comfort that the country’s better than the “infernal trio” in the last three positions — Turkmenistan (#178), North Korea (#179), and Eritrea (#180).
Also you can take comfort that the country’s biggest newspaper won big at an award ceremony organised by their own publishers.
