Bangladesh advances 16 spots in World Press Freedom Index

Bangladesh has advanced 16 spots in the latest World Press Freedom Index, ranking 149th among 180 countries and territories with a score of 33.71.

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a global press freedom campaigner, released the index on Friday, marking the World Press Freedom Day observed on 3 May.

Bangladesh was ranked 165th with a score of 27.64 in 2024. Its position in the index had been steadily declining since 2021, when it stood at 152nd. It dropped 10 places in 2022, one more in 2023, and two more in 2024, falling a total of 13 spots to the 165th position over three years until 2024.

The World Press Freedom Index assesses the level of press freedom in countries based on five indicators: political context, economic context, legal framework, sociocultural context, and safety of journalists. This year, Bangladesh has shown improvement across all five categories compared to the previous year.

In the political indicator, Bangladesh scored 29.03, up from 19.36 last year. The economic score rose to 33.79 from 27.83. When it comes to the legislative indicator, the score improved to 36.71 from 31.32. The social indicator score increased to 39.87 from 32.65, and the security score rose to 29.17 from 27.03.

In its country analysis, RSF noted that more than a fifth of the 169 million Bangladeshis live below the poverty line and have little access to mainstream media. The internet plays a growing role in the circulation of news and information.

Globally, Eritrea remains at the bottom of the index (180th), followed by North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Both India and Pakistan ranked below Bangladesh this year. India moved up eight places to 151st from 159th last year, while Pakistan dropped six places to 158th. The United States ranks 57th this year, down from 55th in 2024.

Political context: Since the country’s independence in 1971, successive governments have treated the media as a communication tool. The government of Sheikh Hasina, from 2009 to 2024, was no exception: censorship, cyberharassment, pressure from military intelligence services, judicial harassment, a series of draconian laws, police violence, and assaults by ruling party militias.

Sheikh Hasina’s government relentlessly multiplied the obstacles facing journalism. Given these conditions, newsrooms carefully avoided challenging the government and resorted to self-censorship. On 5 August, 2024, this tyrannical regime fell after several weeks of massive student demonstrations which were brutally repressed. An interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has been tasked with reforming the country.

Legal framework: A few months before the national elections on 7 January 2024, Sheikh Hasina’s government introduced the Cyber Security Act (CSA), a poor copy of the Digital Security Act (DSA), one of the world’s most draconian laws for journalists.

Specifically, it allows: searches and arrests without a warrant; the seizure of electronic equipment; violation of the confidentiality of sources on arbitrary grounds. In this environment, newsroom editors routinely censored themselves.

Economic context: Most of the leading privately owned media are owned by a handful of great businessmen who emerged during Bangladesh’s economic boom. They see their media outlets as tools of influence and profitability, and to that end, they prioritse good relations with the government over safeguarding editorial independence. Many newspapers are still dependent on state funding from government advertising and imported newsprint for printing.

Sociocultural context: Although defined as a secular country in the constitution, Bangladesh recognises Islam as the state religion. This ambiguity is reflected in the media, where anything relating to religious issues is off limits. The mainstream media never address the issue of religious minorities, although they number 10 million in Bangladesh.

In the past decade, radical Islamist groups have waged extremely violent campaigns that have led to the murders of journalists. These groups now use social media to track down and harass journalists who defend secularism, the right to alternative opinions and freedom of religion.

Safety: Exposed to police violence, attacks by political activists and murders orchestrated by Jihadist or criminal organisations, Bangladeshi journalists under Sheikh Hasina’s regime were all the more vulnerable because this violence went unpunished. The DSA and the CSA were often used to keep journalists and bloggers in prison, in appalling conditions.

In the political purge that followed the fall of Sheikh Hasina, over 130 journalists were subjected to unfounded judicial proceedings, notably on charges of “murder” and “crimes against humanity,” and five were detained. The profession is still dominated by men and women journalists are exposed to a deeply rooted culture of harassment and are subjected to online hate campaigns when they try to publicly defend their rights.