Nepal has made substantial progress in the status of press freedom. According to a report prepared by Reporters Without Borders Nepal has climbed up by 30 points in the global ranking at 76th position. \

Last year, Nepal had been placed at 106th position, Pakistan at 145th, Sri Lanka 127th, Bangladesh 152nd, and Myanmar at 140th position in the index.

The 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, highlights the disastrous effects of news and information chaos – the effects of a globalized and unregulated online information space that encourages fake news and propaganda.

Within democratic societies, divisions are growing as a result of the spread of opinion media following the “Fox News model” and the spread of disinformation circuits that are amplified by the way social media functions. At the international level, democracies are being weakened by the asymmetry between open societies and despotic regimes that control their media and online platforms while waging propaganda wars against democracies. Polarisation on these two levels is fuelling increased tension, the report says.