Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its latest press freedom ranking of countries in the world, with most countries in Africa named in the bad category.

The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by RSF based on its assessment of countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. The index intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect such freedom.

In its 2021 index, RSF revealed that violations against press freedoms, such as arbitrary censorship, arrest of journalists working against cybercrime, fake news or terrorism, and acts of violence against media personnel, are now a common phenomenon, on the continent.

At least six countries on the continent were named in black or recognized for very serious press freedom situations, namely Djibouti, Libya, Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea.

“Many different levels of press freedom exist in Africa, from Senegal and its lively newspapers to Eritrea and Djibouti, where there are no privately-owned media at all,” the report revealed.

“Respect for press freedom is still largely dependent on the political and social context. Elections and protests are often accompanied by abuses against journalists.”

It noted that the financial weakness of many media outlets makes them susceptible to political and financial influence that undermines their independence.

“For the most part, state-owned media still tend to be governmental mouthpieces or propaganda tools and have a long way to go before they become really independent public service media reflecting a wide range of opinion,” the report added.

On the pretext of combatting disinformation and hate speech, the report said many countries have adopted new laws in recent years with vague and draconian provisions that can easily be used to gag journalists.

The report also referenced the increase in online attacks as another disturbing phenomenon by tyrants close or have direct link to the government that are designed to discredit or intimidate journalists.

At least 20 countries in Africa were also marked red as the category of countries with very serious situations of press freedom, including Morocco, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Algeria. Around a dozen others were listed as problematic, while six others were listed among the first 50 countries worldwide with better rankings.

Despite the troubling moments, Burkina Faso and Botswana showed major improvements in press freedom. Both countries improved by one point, each, in regional ranking since 2020. The countries have moved to 37 and 38 place, respectively, from 39 and 39 places last year.

African journalists were hit hard by the coronavirus crisis in 2020, suffering three times as many attacks and arrests from 15 March to 15 May as during the same period the year before, according to RSF’s tally.