THE Guyana Press Association in a statement said it notes the elevation of this country on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index by 5 places.

Guyana is now at 55 compared to 60 in 2017. “We welcome this improved ranking with some reservations. This may seem somewhat of an achievement, but in reality there are still significant hurdles to be crossed before Guyanese can feel that an improved ranking really matters,” the GPA said.

Among the issues the GPA wants to be tackled are: the removal of existing criminal defamation laws in line with globally accepted standards; the deletion of offending sections in the Cybercrime Bill that could result in further entrenchment of criminal defamation; the amendment to the Broadcasting Act to remove direct intervention in the programming schedule of radio and television stations, except in cases of emergencies; political interference in the state-owned and privately-owned media by government and the opposition and the removal of columnists from the state-owned Guyana Chronicle, a situation that appeared not to have bothered government and its professed commitment to press freedom and freedom of expression.

The GPA said it hopes that the various actors associated with the above-listed observations will take remedial action to further enhance Guyana’s ranking on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index in 2019.

Meanwhile, according to the report, ranked second (but more than 10 points worse than Europe), the Americas contain a wide range of situations. Violence and impunity continue to feed fear and self-censorship in Central America. Mexico (147th) became the world’s second deadliest country for journalists in 2017, with 11 killed. Thanks to President Maduro’s increasingly authoritarian excesses, Venezuela (143rd) dropped six places, the region’s biggest fall. On the other hand, Ecuador (92nd) jumped 13 places, the

hemisphere’s greatest rise, because tension between the authorities and privately-owned media abated. In North America, Donald Trump’s USA slipped another two places while Justin Trudeau’s Canada rose four and entered the top 20 at 18th place, a level where the situation is classified as “fairly good.”