India ranks 151 in World Press Freedom Index 2025; Report raises alarm over media monopoly
New Delhi: India has been ranked 151 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2025, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday. While the position reflects a marginal improvement from 159 in 2024 and 161 in 2023, India remains in the “very serious” category for press freedom.
The global media watchdog highlighted growing concerns over the concentration of media ownership in India, stating that political influence over news outlets continues to threaten media plurality. RSF also noted that, for the first time, global press freedom is broadly classified as being in a “difficult situation,” with economic pressures emerging as a major contributing factor.
Among its South Asian neighbours, India ranks below Nepal (90), the Maldives (104), Sri Lanka (139), and Bangladesh (149), but fares better than Bhutan (152), Pakistan (158), Myanmar (169), Afghanistan (175), and China (178). Norway, Estonia, and the Netherlands top the list.
The index evaluates press freedom based on five criteria: political, economic, legislative, social, and security.
Reporters Without Borders’ Editorial Director Anne Bocandé stated that there is no free press without economic independence. “When news media are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audiences at the expense of quality reporting, and can fall prey to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them,” said Bocandé.
The report also shed light on alarming press conditions in conflict zones. In Palestine, ranked 163, RSF described the situation as “disastrous,” citing the destruction of newsrooms and the killing of nearly 200 journalists in Gaza. In Haiti (ranked 112), political instability has severely disrupted media operations.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
