Taiwan ranked 43rd in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index released April 21 by France-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), spotlighting the country’s efforts maintaining media independence while ensuring a safe environment for journalists.
On a scale of 0-100, with zero the best possible result, Taiwan scored 23.76, down 1.22 points from the previous edition. This placed it among the 26 percent considered to have “good” or “fairly good” media environments in the annual survey of 180 countries and territories.
Taiwan finished second in Asia behind South Korea, 42nd, but ahead of Japan, 66th; Hong Kong, 80th; Malaysia, 101st; Singapore, 158th; and China, 177th. The top three spots worldwide went to Norway, Finland and Denmark, in that order.
Cedric Alviani, director of RSF’s East Asia Bureau, said Taiwan is an example of how press freedom can thrive in the region. There is room for improvement, however, with concerns regarding profit-led outlets that encourage polarization and sensationalism in news coverage, he added.
According to RSF, the coming decade is pivotal for press freedom, as the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the many crises threatening access to diverse and reliable information.
Published annually since 2002, the index assesses countries and territories based on environment and self-censorship, infrastructure quality, legal framework, media independence, pluralism and transparency.
Taiwan, first included in the survey in 2013 with a ranking of 47th, fell to 50th and 51st in 2014 and 2015, respectively. It remained 51st in 2016 before improving to 45th in 2017 and 42nd in both 2018 and 2019. (YCH-E)
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