Centre disagrees with India’s rank on World Press Freedom Index

The Centre on Tuesday disagreed with India’s low rank on the World Press Freedom Index prepared by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. The government claimed that the report was based on a small sample size and gave little or no importance to the “fundamentals of democracy”.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur made the remarks in a written reply in Lok Sabha while responding to a question on India’s low ranking on the index.

In March, Reporters Without Borders had said that India ranked 142 out of 180 countries when it comes to press freedom. It had added that the nation was classified as “bad” for journalism.

The media watchdog in a report in December had said that India was among the five most dangerous nations in terms of journalists killed across the world this year.

The Union minister was asked if the government had identified the reason behind India’s low ranking and if any corrective measures were taken.

Thakur informed the Lower House that the government “did not subscribe” to the views of Reporters Without Borders and its report ranking countries because the number of participants surveyed was not adequate.

The minister also claimed that the report had a “questionable methodology” for the survey. Thakur also claimed that Reporters Without Borders lacked a clear definition of…

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