TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan remains at 42nd place in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index released today (Thursday, April 18) by non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Taiwan previously ranked top in Asia for six consecutive years but was overtaken this year by South Korea, which moved up two places from 43rd to 41st on the list. It still ranks ahead of other neighboring countries including Japan, which sits at 67th place, and Hong Kong, which fell three places to 73rd in this year’s ranking.

On a scale of zero to 100, with zero being the best possible score, Taiwan received 24.98. The score is a 1.62 increase on 2018’s point total, indicating a slightly worse media environment this year.

The report states that Taiwan suffers from a “polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism,” with news offices prioritizing profit over factual reporting. Although Tsai Ing-wen expressed that she wants to develop press freedom in Taiwan, wrote RSF, few concrete measures have been taken to ensure improvements in the quality of public debate.

RSF reiterated that Taiwan fell foul to a disinformation campaign by Beijing. China exploited weaknesses in Taiwanese media companies, the report stated, by pressurizing bosses with business interests across the strait.

China’s online disinformation campaign was the subject of a separate report released in March, titled “China’s Pursuit of a New World Media Order.”

It noted that a 61-year-old Taiwanese diplomat stationed in Osaka, Japan committed suicide in September after reports circulated that Taiwan’s embassy did nothing to help citizens trapped by floods at Kansai International Airport. Beijing was suspected to be behind the rumors, which were then picked up and amplified by the Taiwanese media without being fact-checked, RSF wrote.

Press freedom around the world appears to be on the decline, with more countries this year falling into the “problematic,” “bad” and “very bad” zones in the index. Hatred against journalists has degenerated into violence, the report stated, contributing to an overall increase in fear.

China’s system of total news control is serving as a model for other anti-democratic regimes in the Asia-Pacific, according to the report, including Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. Social media has allowed hate campaigns to proliferate, it stated, particularly against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, on whom State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has remained silent about.

Six journalists were killed in India in 2018, which led the country to drop two places to 140th in this year’s ranking. Exemption from punishment encouraged the perpetration of violence against journalists in Sri Lanka, RSF wrote.

The World Press Freedom index determines the degree of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries by combining expert responses to RSF questionnaires with qualitative data on abuses.