TRINIDAD and Tobago has moved up in the World Press Freedom ranking by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF or Reporters Without Borders) this year.
Out of 180 countries, this country stands at number 25, six points up from the previous 31.
This Wednesday, the world and by extension the media commemorates World Press Freedom Day.
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) published a statement on its website.
It stated that RSF described the media landscape in T&T as a “parliamentary democracy with a vibrant media landscape and civil society, freedom of the press is a constitutionally guaranteed and widely respected right. Media pluralism is strong with multiple media outlets expressing a multitude of viewpoints.”
The watchdog organisation reports that with “zero journalists imprisoned, killed or missing in 2021, T&T provides a generally safe and protected environment for the profession.”
The RSF World Press Freedom Index compares journalists’ level of freedom in 180 countries and territories.
This comparison is based on a definition of press freedom formulated by RSF and compiled based on responses from press freedom specialists in 180 countries.
Press freedom indicators include political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety.
However, both RSF and T&T journalists recognise these numbers reflect a sharp vigilance to ensure freedom of the press, which continually comes under threat from the institutions over which it acts as a watchdog and also greater threats to journalists elsewhere, MATT stated.
MATT stated that in T&T today, journalists remain watchful over the potentially chilling effects of problematic items of legislation, including…
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The Financial Intelligence Act
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The Data Protection Act (Interception of Communications Act)
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The Integrity in Public Life Act
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The Criminal Libel and Defamation Act
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The Cybercrime Bill 2017
In this past year, MATT has been continually vigilant over the media’s access to State-held press conferences and information in the population’s interest.
MATT stated, “Media workers continue to stand in strong solidarity with one another here in T&T and with our colleagues globally and reaffirm our pledge to continue to be, without fear or favour, a voice of the people and a watchdog over the institutions that govern this democratic nation.”
It also stands in reflection and grief as the Committee to Protect Journalists – an independent, nonprofit organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide reported that some 67 journalists and media workers were killed in 2022, the highest number since 2018, an increase of 50% from 2021.
The CPJ attributes this rise in journalists’ deaths to the number of journalists killed covering the Ukraine war and, concerningly for our region, “a sharp rise in killings in Latin America.”
The CPJ claims that “more than half of the 67 killings occurred in just three countries: Ukraine – 15, Mexico – 13 and Haiti – 7, the highest annual numbers CPJ has ever recorded for these countries.
In Mexico and Haiti, reporters were “the targets of brutal murders for their work”, with the “vast majority of perpetrators” not being held accountable.
Mexico also features on CPJ’s “Global Impunity Index”, which features countries where killers get away with murder.
