Annual Press Freedom Index to be released digitally, according to Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is set to release its annual Press Freedom Index on April 21st in a virtual conference that will include press freedom advocates, media professionals, and whistle blower Edward Snowden. The “Journalism in Crisis: The Decisive Decade” presentation will be moderated by journalist Maria Ressa, co-founder of Rappler, and will include several speakers, along with the release of this year’s press freedom map, which ranks 180 nations in a color coded world map indicating levels of freedom of press.

The press freedom advocacy organization has released the Press Freedom Index every year since 2002. It is based on a survey conducted in 20 languages among reporters, media professionals and experts around the world. According to the organization’s website, the questionnaire seeks to measure levels of pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.

The organization has an overall ranking system for all 180 nations that are represented in the survey, as well as a map that puts countries into 1 of 5 categories of press freedom, ranging from “very bad” to “good.”

Speakers will include Reporters Without Borders Secretary General Christophe Deloire, Nobel Prize (Economics) winner Joseph Stiglitz, Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub, and Mr. Snowden, who serves as president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.