China Ranks 2nd Worst in Latest World Press Freedom Index

Police attempt to stop journalists from recording footage outside the Shanghai Pudong New District People's Court, where Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan is set for trial in Shanghai on Dec. 28, 2020. Leo Ramirez/AFP via Getty Images

China joined other communist states—Vietnam and North Korea—at the very bottom of the latest Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index released on May 3, which was World Press Freedom Day.

China ranked in 179th place on this year’s index of 180 countries and regions, one spot above North Korea and one place lower than Vietnam. It fell four places from its ranking last year.

Communist China-controlled Hong Kong ranked 140th. The press freedom situation in the former British colony is classified as “difficult,” while in mainland China, it’s classified as “very serious.”

The annual World Press Freedom Index ranks nations and regions in five categories: the political context, the jurisdiction’s legal framework, the economic context, the sociocultural context, and safety.

RSF selects journalists, scholars, and human rights defenders to answer their press freedom questionnaire. It uses a quantitative tally of abuses against the media and journalists and a qualitative analysis of the observations from press freedom specialists to calculate a score for each country and region.

The report described the People’s Republic of China as “the world’s biggest jailer of journalists and press freedom advocates, and one of the biggest exporters of propaganda content.”

The RSF report pointed out that “Asia’s one-party regimes and dictatorships”—namely China and its regional neighbors North Korea, Vietnam, and Burma, which also is known as Myanmar, which came in at 173rd place—“are the ones that constrict journalism the most, with leaders tightening their totalitarian stranglehold on the public discourse.”

In these countries, similar to the former Soviet Union, “traditional media are closely controlled by the single party,” the Paris-based group stated.

“Independent journalists and bloggers who dare to report ‘sensitive’ information are often placed under surveillance, harassed, detained, and, in some cases, tortured,” the RSF stated.

A pro-democracy activist (C) from HK Alliance holds a placard of missing citizen journalist Fang Bin, as she protests outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong on Feb. 19, 2020. Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

In early 2020, The Epoch Times reported that Fang Bin, a citizen journalist in Wuhan, China, was jailed by the Chinese communist regime for reporting the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan. Three years later, on April 30, he was released but has been sent back and forth between Beijing and Wuhan by the police.

His family didn’t dare to allow him to return home because of threats they had received from authorities. As a result, Fang has been forced into homelessness and continues to be followed and monitored by plainclothes agents.

Another citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, was also sentenced for reporting on the pandemic in Wuhan and is still behind bars.

Zhang Zhan stands near scaffoldings outside a shop during a visit to Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on April 11, 2020. Courtesy of Melanie Wang via AP

“This once again shows that under the system of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it is impossible to bring about the freedom of speech and democratic thought by rapid economic development,“ U.S.-based current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said about China’s rock-bottom ranking on NTD News’ Chinese-language ”Panorama” program on May 5.

“This also illustrates that the red centralized system of the CCP has never loosened its grip on the minds of the people.”

China’s ally, Russia, also dropped in the press freedom ratings. It ranks 164th, nine places below its position last year.

Taiwan (Republic of China), described by RSF as one of the world’s “functional democracies,” was ranked 35.

No Freedom of Speech Under CCP

“The freedom of press in China continues to decline to the bottom,” Tang said. “It clearly shows that the CCP’s suppression of speech in recent years has reached a new height.”

Even Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the regime’s mouthpiece media “Global Times” and the CCP’s top propagandist, criticized the regime for its censorship and control over the news process in response to the RSF ranking.

“The media’s own news attributes must be protected and respected and cannot be made subordinate. [However], some regions and departments are now adopting a strong interventionist approach to news organizations, which is very debatable,” he posted on Chinese social media.

A policeman blocks the camera to stop journalists from recording footage outside the Shanghai Pudong New District People's Court, where Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan—who reported on Wuhan's COVID-19 outbreak and was placed under detention since May 2020—is set for trial in Shanghai on Dec. 28, 2020. LEO RAMIREZ/AFP via Getty Images

Tang said, “It is impossible to expect the CCP to change itself.”

“The CCP relies on guns and pens to steal power,” NTD’s Chen Weiyu said in her Chinese-language program “Wei Yu Sees the World.” “The so-called pen is to control news and propaganda. The reason why they value news and propaganda so much and must firmly control them in their hands is for disinformation.

“The CCP built the ‘Great Firewall’ for the same purpose, which is to prevent Chinese people from accessing real news and information.”

Tang said, “As long as the CCP system does not disintegrate, ordinary people or journalists will not have a day when they can truly speak freely.”