South Sudan and Sudan Ranking Improve on 2020 World Press Freedom Index

Reports Without Borders (RSF) have released the 2020 World Press Freedom Index on 21 April 2020, placing South Sudan in the 138th rank and Sudan in the 159th rank out of 180 countries on the world ranking index.

Compiled and published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index ranks countries based upon the organisation’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. The index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region. 

#RSFIndex ¦ RSF unveils its 2020 World Press Freedom Index:
1: Norway🇳🇴
2: Finland🇫🇮
3: Denmark🇩🇰
11: Germany🇩🇪
34: France🇫🇷
35: United Kingdom🇬🇧
45: United States🇺🇸
66: Japan🇯🇵
107: Brazil🇧🇷
142: India🇮🇳
166: Egypt🇪🇬
178: Eritrea🇪🇷
180: North Korea🇰🇵https://t.co/4izhhdhZAo pic.twitter.com/biJfunlTSw

— RSF (@RSF_inter) April 21, 2020

The press freedom map offers a visual overview of the situation in each country and region in the Index. The colour categories are assigned as follows: good (white), fairly good (yellow), problematic (orange), bad (red) and very bad (black). South Sudan is in red while Sudan is in black.

Regardless of the improvement in the ranking, both South Sudan and Sudan rank low in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index and categorised as countries with the least press freedom in the world.

South Sudan

This year, with a score of 44.49, South Sudan improves by one ranking from 139 in 2019. RSF attributes South Sudan’s ranking in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index to ‘No journalist was killed in South Sudan in 2019 for the second year in a row’.

According to RSF:

‘In a country ravaged by civil war since late 2013, the signing of a peace accord and Riek Machar’s finally achieved return as vice-president have been accompanied by a reduction in the fighting. But the situation remains precarious.’

Find out more about South Sudan’s ranking on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index here.

Sudan

This year, with a score of 55.33, Sudan jumps up 16 points from 175 in 2019. RSF attributes Sudan’s ranking in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index to the Sudanese revolution in 2019, which led to the ousting of former Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his regime. Under his dictatorship, Sudan was one of the world’s most hostile terrains for journalists.

According to RSF:

‘The media must now be rebuilt over the ruins…Although the provisional constitution adopted for the transition guarantees press freedom and Internet access, the draconian laws that the old regime used against the media are still in effect. A free and independent press culture needs support, protection and training if it is to take hold after 30 years of oppression that entrenched self-censorship in most newsrooms.’

Find out more about Sudan’s ranking on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index here.