Tuesday
16th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
President Solih with a tv host. Photo: President's Office
Maldives has dropped 15 ranks in Press Freedom, in spite of the claim made by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
President Solih in his statement on World Press Freedom Day, stated that that the Maldives was ranked highest in the South Asian region for press freedom indexes and reaffirmed his administration's commitment to press freedom and a conducive environment for information sharing.
Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) ranked Maldives 87th out of 180 nations. Last year, Maldives was ranked at 72. On the metrics measured, Maldives earned 59 points – last year it was at 70 points.
Maldives is classified as a ‘problematic’ nation, along with 69 other countries.
‘Advertising revenues are distributed without any transparency or oversight body, which poses serious problems for the independence of media outlets. In several cases, media without a serious readership have received large sums of money from state enterprises. In return, the editors receive direct instructions to remove an article that displeases or not to cover a sensitive subject,’ the report said.
RSF also said that constitutional guarantees for press freedom were being undermined. They note that the state backed Evidence Bill, presented to Parliament at the end of 2021, which would have allowed the breach of secrecy of sources at the request of a court.
The agency also noted that female journalists were also targeted, while targeted attacked had increased overall.
Media freedom was one of the key pledges of this administration. Solih had ridden a wave of media adoration during the 2018 campaign. Once elected, this had changed drastically.