Nigeria has been ranked 111th among 180 countries in global press freedom ranking, below countries like Niger, Togo, Kenya, Uganda, Gabon and Liberia.
According to the ranking by Paris-based watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, the position is one notch above last year’s ranking of 112th. In the group’s 2015 World Press Freedom Index released yesterday, Finland, Norway and Denmark are ahead of the pack.
Finland has been first in the index for five years in a row. Taking the rear are Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
Reporters Without Borders said the results reflect a “drastic decline” in media freedom in the world last year.
Over half of the 180 countries that the index surveyed had a drop in performance compared to the previous years.
United States stands at the 49th place, down by three places in 2014; Japan is at 61, down by two places; while Malaysia is ranked 147th.
Hong Kong, after their recent Occupy Central protests, dropped nine places to the 70th position.
