Thailand’s junta leader has been labeled a “predator of information” after the country dropped two places from last year in the World Press Freedom Index.
Thailand is now ranked 136 out of 180 countries, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The report was released on Wednesday.
The organisation cites the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) control over journalists and citizen-journalists as a reason for the drop.
“Ubiquitous and all-powerful, the NCPO summons them for questioning and detains them arbitrarily. Its leader, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, is given to frequent verbal attacks and even death threats against journalists. He is a new predator of information,” it said.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the 2016 World Press Freedom Index reflects the intensity of the attacks on journalistic freedom and independence by governments, ideologies and private-sector interests during the past year, reported the Nation.
Among Asean nations, only Cambodia and Indonesia do better in terms of press freedom. Cambodia, at 128th, saw its ranking move up by 11 places. The ranking of Indonesia, at 130th, also moved up by 8 places.
The decline in media freedom was also observed in east Asian democracies such as Japan and South Korea, while in China, “the Communist Party took repression to new heights,” the study said.
The index measures media pluralism, independence, the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries.
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