New Zealand in top 10 for media freedom

Reporters Without Borders has ranked New Zealand seventh in the world in terms of media freedom.

The organisation’s Press Freedom Index reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each of the 178 measured countries. 

The index is based on a questionnaire containing 43 criteria that was completed by journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists operating all over the world.

The questionnaire included an assessment of every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment and physical attacks) and news media (such as censorship and harassment).  It also measured the level of self-censorship in each country, the ability of the media to investigate and criticise, and the legal framework that the media in each country operated under.

Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland were first equal on this year’s index while Japan led the way in Asia, ranked 11th-equal overall.