An organization of journalists in South Asia, Reporters without Borders, has prepared a report on freedom of Press in South Asian countries. It says that the freedom of Press has gone down drastically in South Asia. In a democratic country such as India also, the report says, the press does not enjoy as freedom as it should be.

The Reporters without Borders have published a ranking, which is revealing that none of any south Asian countries has the ranking more than 98 out of 168. The trends are showing the constant decline since 2002.

According to the report on the press freedom, India’s ranking was 80 in 2002 and it came down to 105 this year. However, it was 106 last year. Bhutan is at the top among south Asian nations at 98. Last year the first private newspaper was launched in Bhutan. Its ranking was 148 in 2005.

On the other hand, Indian economist Prof Jagdish Bhagwati criticized the report. He said that

these kinds of rankings are simply idiotic. They are published without any scientific methods and logics.

The same is applicable for the rankings of the Transparency International. They ask some question to a bunch of people who has a though such as India is corrupt country.

They force the answers across countries. The method is absurdly prejudiced and illogical. South Asian countries need to improve many more things but they are not as bad as being projected.

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