Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/18
By: Chi Jo-yao 

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Taiwan’s global press freedom ranking remained the same at 42nd, falling from the best in Asia last year to second, behind South Korea, according to the 2019 World Press Freedom Index released Tuesday and updated Thursday by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF).

Among the 180 countries and territories evaluated by RSF, Taiwan’s ranking is better than that of Japan, which remained at 67th, Hong Kong, which fell three places to 73rd, and the Philippines, which fell one place to 134th.

South Korea jumped 20 places to 43rd in 2018 and went up two places further in 2019. RSF attributed the improvement to the election of the country’s President Moon Jae-in, who it said has brought “a breath of fresh air after a bad decade in which South Korea fell more than 30 places in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index.”

The Moon administration ended a decade-old conflict at two public broadcasters — the Korean Broadcasting System and Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. –where “journalists objected to have bosses foisted on them by the government,” RSF said.
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