GUWAHATI, Oct 27 - Press freedom is under constant threat across the globe and South Asia is no different. In fact, some worrying trends emerging in this region have far-reaching implications for journalists all over the world.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday from Paris as part of �Meet the Press� programme of the Guwahati Press Club, Daniel Bastard, head of Asia-Pacific desk of Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), said as many as 150 journalists had been killed in the last 15 years in the Indian subcontinent alone.
Of these, 71 scribes have been killed in Pakistan, 42 in India, 15 in Sri Lanka, 12 in Bangladesh and 10 in Nepal.
Referring to the trend showing a clear link between conflict situation on one hand and killing of journalists on the other, Daniel said the trend has been changing since 2010.
�From 2010 onwards, the numbers of journalists killed while reporting in countries which are not at war have tended to be as many as those reporting from war fields,� he pointed out.
This is of particular significance to India, a stable democracy with a thriving independent press, where the graph of journalist killings has been rising in recent years.
Incidentally, India has ranked 138th out of 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index brought out by RSF, headquartered in Paris. This situation can be contrasted with that in militancy-hit Pakistan where scribes have to work constantly in the shadow of the gun.
�Other worrying trends that need to be addressed in the Indian subcontinent is the high level of censorship and self-censorship, the lack of pluralism in certain countries and the political affiliation of media owners,� Daniel pointed out.
With mainstream journalism going increasingly online and the advent of alternative media, newer threats are rising. �We are now seeing online harassment of journalists by troll armies, dissemination of false information and hate speech messages calling for the killing of journalists whose work displeases those in power and their supporters,� Daniel added.
