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REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Freedom of the press 'drowned' by disinformation

 Of the 180 countries listed, Lebanon ranks 119th. The press freedom situation remains "difficult" in the country, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Freedom of the press 'drowned' by disinformation

A protester holding a keyboard with an illustration of handcuffs during a sit-in in Beirut, in 2018. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)

Political propaganda, economic manipulation, false content generated by artificial intelligence: disinformation in the broadest sense is a major threat to press freedom worldwide, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warns in its 21st annual country ranking of press freedom worldwide.

Unchanged, the best-rated country remains Norway and the worst-rated is North Korea. Lebanon lies in 119th place — moving up from 130th position last year. However, it remains behind Israel and Qatar in the region. Overall, the conditions for practicing journalism are poor in seven out of 10 countries.

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The world press freedom index is produced by RSF on the basis of "a quantitative survey of abuses committed against journalists" on the one hand and "a qualitative study" on the other. The latter is based on "the answers of hundreds of press freedom experts [journalists, academics, human rights defenders] to a hundred or so questions."

This 2023 edition points in particular to the effects of disinformation. In two-thirds of the 180 countries evaluated, the specialists who contribute to the ranking "report the involvement of political actors" in "massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns," according to RSF. This is the case of Russia, India, China and Mali.

More broadly, this ranking "highlights the dazzling effects of the simulacrum industry in the digital ecosystem." "It is the industry that allows us to produce disinformation, to distribute it or to amplify it," Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of RSF told AFP.

'Deluge'

This is, according to him, the case of "leaders of digital platforms that do not care to distribute propaganda or false information," and whose "typical example" is "the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk." Another phenomenon is fake content created by artificial intelligence (AI). "Midjourney, an AI that generates very high definition images, feeds social networks with increasingly plausible fakes," underlines RSF, citing false photos of Donald Trump's arrest "taken up virally."

We are also witnessing "large-scale manipulative productions" by specialized companies, on behalf of governments or companies. In February, a vast investigation by the investigative journalist collective Forbidden Stories revealed the activities of an Israeli company called "Team Jorge," which specializes in disinformation.

All these "unprecedented manipulation capacities are used to weaken those who embody quality journalism, at the same time as they weaken journalism itself," warns RSF.

"Reliable information is being drowned out by a deluge of disinformation," says Deloire, according to whom "we can perceive less and less the differences between the real and the artificial, the true and the false. "One of the major issues is to put democratic principles in this huge market of attention and content," he said.

Maghreb/Middle East region remains the most dangerous

In the regional ranking, "the Maghreb/Middle East region remains the most dangerous for journalists," while Europe is the one "where the conditions for exercising journalism are the easiest."

While an "authoritarian drift" is perceived in the Maghreb, Syria remains the "most dangerous" country in the region for journalists, at 175th place in the ranking.

Lebanon gains 11 places

Lebanon, for its part, has moved up 11 places since last year but still remains in a "difficult" situation, mostly due to the severe economic situation "which keeps getting worse" and thus forces the media to undertake "huge budget cuts."

"The attempts to paralyze the investigation into the explosion at the port of Beirut" also contribute to hampering press freedom in the country. RSF, however, denotes a "real freedom of tone in the Lebanese media," while recalling that most of media outlets are "controlled by individuals directly affiliated to parties."

The occupied West Bank, meanwhile, has moved up 14 places from last year to 156th position, although the situation remains "very serious" due to violations by both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation forces. Israel, for its part, has fallen 11 places due to the arrival of Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government in power in 2022. However, it remains the leading country in the region in the ranking, in 96th place.

As for Iran, it has moved up one place since last year to 177th position. However, RSF recalls that Iran "has strengthened its position among the most repressive countries in the world in terms of press freedom since the beginning of the movement of protests in reaction to the death of the student Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16, 2022. It is even becoming one of the world's largest prisons for journalists.

In the rankings, the biggest drops are seen in Peru (110th, -33 places), Senegal (104th, -31 places), Haiti (99th, -29) or Tunisia (121st, -27).

Parts of this article have been translated from a French version of an AFP article.

Political propaganda, economic manipulation, false content generated by artificial intelligence: disinformation in the broadest sense is a major threat to press freedom worldwide, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warns in its 21st annual country ranking of press freedom worldwide. Unchanged, the best-rated country remains Norway and the worst-rated is North Korea. Lebanon lies in 119th place —...