Australia, New Zealand Plummet in Press Freedom Rankings: Reporters Without Borders

Journalists working in the Asia-Pacific region face perils ranging from violence to sustained online abuse, the annual Press Freedom report from Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, or RSF) has found. As a result, no country in the region has made it into the top fifteen. Australia plummeted 12 places to 39th, while New Zealand fell six places to 19th. RSF says that in Australia, “hyper-concentration of the media, combined with growing pressure from the authorities, endanger public interest journalism.” “The owners of the big media companies have close ties to political leaders, which fuels doubts about the editorial independence of their outlets,” the report says, noting that “in 2021, a Senate Committee confirmed the existence of a growing culture of secrecy within the administration, informal pressure to prevent the revelation of certain matters, and intimidation of whistleblowers in the name of protecting national security.”...