Media Freedom Under Scrutiny Ahead of Press Freedom Day

With World Press Freedom Day on the horizon, the state of media across the East Africa region has come under scrutiny.

The recent publication of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has highlighted Sub-Saharan Africa as one of the worst regions in the world for press freedom, with 22 out of 48 countries classified as either bad or very bad.

The 2019 World Press Freedom Index ranked Somalia as the most deadly country for media on the continent. Meanwhile, press freedom was assessed as having decreased in countries such as Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe.

Tanzania has dropped 25 places in the rankings, and now sits at 118 as a result of unprecedented attacks on the press and continue decline following the election of President John Magufuli in 2015. However the most press freedom violations were recorded in DRC.