Media freedom in Sri Lanka remains in a “difficult situation” according to Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index, with the island ranking 141st in the world in their annual listing.
The ranking leaves Sri Lanka in the exact same position as last year, behind countries such as Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
Also known as Reporters sans frontiers, the non-government organisation went on to note that attacks on journalists, such as that of Freddy Gamage in June 2016, 2016 “fuelled the doubts of both the public and media freedom defenders”.
“The Tamil media, often the target of attacks and censorship both during the civil war and after, are still on their guard,” it added.
The organisation also referred to an order from Sri Lanka’s ministry of parliamentary reform and mass media calling on all news website to register with the government or become illegal.
“This vague and disproportionate directive immediately reminded the media and citizen journalists of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s censorship methods,” said RSF.
See the full 2017 World Press Freedom Index here.