KINGSTON, Jamaica — France-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Jamaica sixth on its 2018 World Press Freedom Index, a move two places up from the country’s 2017 ranking.
The index, which was released yesterday, ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
“Jamaica ranks among the countries that most respect freedom of information,” RSF commented in its report.
“The very occasional physical attacks on journalists must be offset against this, but no serious act of violence or threat to media freedom has been reported since February 2009, a month that saw two cases of abuse of authority by the Kingston police.”
It also noted that the law decriminalising defamation passed by the House of Representatives in 2013 was a step in the right direction.
Jamaica’s ranking is the highest for a Caribbean country since the index was introduced in 2002.
Meanwhile, The United States’ ranking fell from 43 to 45, continuing its downward trend in the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, RSF said.
In contrast, Canada gained four places due to steps taken to safeguard the confidentiality of journalists’ sources.
The watchdog accused Trump of perpetrating anti-media rhetoric and actively seeking to curb press freedom.
“In 2017, the 45th President of the United States helped sink the country to 45th place by labelling the press an “enemy of the American people” in a series of verbal attacks toward journalists, attempts to block White House access to multiple media outlets, routine use of the term “fake news” in retaliation for critical reporting, and calling for media outlets’ broadcasting licenses to be revoked.
“President Trump has routinely singled out news outlets and individual journalists for their coverage of him, and retweeted several violent memes targeting CNN.”
The top 10 countries on the index are:
1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Netherlands
4. Finland
5. Switzerland
6. Jamaica
7. Belgium
8. New Zealand
9. Denmark
10. Costa Rica