World Press Freedom Day; Iran at the Bottom of Reporters Without Borders Ranking

On Friday, May 3rd, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders published its new report on media freedom for the year 2024. Iran ranks 176th among 180 countries worldwide, placing it at the bottom of the ranking. According to this report, only North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria, and Eritrea have worse media freedom conditions than Iran. In this list, countries such as Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Bahrain, China, Myanmar, Egypt, Iraq, Cuba, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Nicaragua, Russia, and Djibouti rank higher than Iran and have better media freedom conditions. Reporters Without Borders states that Iran, with its policy of 'mass imprisonment,' is considered one of the largest prisons for journalists in the world, and political events directly impact the job conditions and security of media professionals. The report indicates that the political index of media freedom rankings is declining in most regions of the Middle East in 2024. Reporters Without Borders further notes that officials in these countries are trying to control the media by any means possible. The implementation of this policy in various countries involves violence, arrests, stringent laws, financial pressure, or social engineering, all of which include targeted immunity for crimes against journalists. The report states that red lines for media in the Middle East are continuously increasing, and journalists are not allowed to cover many topics related to war, corruption, economic crises, feminism, ethnic groups, or sexual and gender minorities, or they must address these issues in a way that the government approves. In recent years, Iran has consistently ranked low in the Reporters Without Borders rankings due to media censorship and pressure on journalists. In 2023, the country was ranked 177th. This organization has always expressed concern about the state of media freedom in Iran, describing the Islamic Republic as 'one of the most repressive governments in the world' in this regard. The website 'Iran Watch' has been filtered; the site's editor-in-chief stated that filtering is done by 'Abaravan.' A guideline for the activities of foreign media has been issued; activities are permitted with the approval of the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence. Amnesty International's report states that the situation of freedom of expression, suppression of women, torture, and executions by the Islamic Republic worsened in 2023. Reporters Without Borders: The British government must work to protect Iranian journalists in exile. The organization 'Defending the Flow of Free Information' reported that the Islamic Republic pursued 91 journalists, media outlets, and media activists in three months. Continued security pressures on journalists; the editor-in-chief of the monthly 'Nadaastan' stated: 'I prefer closure to suicide.'