Global media at a tipping point and ‘never under so much threat’
Paris — Press freedom has never been as threatened as it is now, in the "new post-truth era of fake news" after the election of US President Donald Trump, Reporters Without Borders warned on Wednesday. Its annual World Press Freedom Index warned of the "highly toxic" media-bashing by Trump’s election campaign and Britain’s Brexit referendum. The situation is at "a tipping point", the index noted bluntly. Media freedom is being undermined by the rise in surveillance and of authoritarian strongmen across the globe, the watchdog said. The US and UK both slipped two places in the index to 43rd and 40th, according to the Paris-based monitoring group, known by its French initials RSF. This places the US and UK lower than SA, which ranked 31 out of 180 countries. "Nothing seems to be checking" the erosion of liberty of the press in leading democracies, the index noted. "Media freedom has never been so threatened." Liberty of the press is in peril or in a "very serious situation" in 72 coun...
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