Global media watchdog Reporters Without Border (RSF) on Wednesday said that the situation of media freedom has gone from “problematic” to “very bad” in three countries including Tajikistan, India and Turkey.

In its latest report ‘2023 World Press Freedom Index’ – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – released on Wednesday, RSF said that India has slipped 11 positions down to 161 compared to 2022. Turkey has also slipped down 16 positions to 165. Pakistan has fared better when it comes to media freedom as it was placed at 150, an improvement from last year’s 157th rank. Sri Lanka also made significant improvement on the index, ranking 135th this year as against 146th in 2022.