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2.15 Turkey drops two places to 157 on latest World Press Freedom Index
Turkey has placed 157th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2019 compiled by Reporters Without Borders, two places down on where it finished in the previous year’s ranking . The country, which for three straight years has been the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, has seen the “witch-hunt waged by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government against its media critics... come to a head since an abortive coup in July 2016”, according to a short commentary issued with the latest ranking.
It added: “After the elimination of dozens of media outlets and the acquisition of Turkey’s biggest media group by a pro-government conglomerate, the authorities are tightening the vice on what little is left of pluralism—a handful of media outlets that are being harassed and marginalised.
“Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of professional professional journalists. Spending more than a year in prison before trial is the new norm, and long jail sentences are common, in some cases as long as life imprisonment with no possibility of a pardon. Detained journalists and closed media outlets are denied any effective legal recourse.
“The rule of law is a fading memory in the ‘New Turkey’ of paramount presidential authority. Censorship of websites and online social media has reached unprecedented levels and the authorities are now trying to bring online video services under control.”
36 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com