Amid outcry by Bhutanese journalists over the country’s ranking in the latest world press freedom index, the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) retracted its report, outlining that several Bhutanese journalists were exiled from the country.
Besides highlighting Bhutan dropped 10 places to 94th position in press freedom, the report mentioned, “The level of self-censorship is high and even increased after the recent approval of a law criminalising defamation, which drove several Bhutanese journalists into exile in 2017.”
The Head of Asia-Pacific Desk with RWB, Daniel Bastard told BBS that “There was some kind of inaccuracy regarding journalists who go into exile due to defamation law. This was related to the case of Namgay Zam, who left Bhutan allegedly because of defamation case.”
Daniel further clarified that their information was based on an article published by a Delhi correspondent of “The New York Times.”
“The article mentioned that journalist like Namgay Zam left the country because she was harassed and everything. But, I was corrected by the soon-to-be correspondent in Bhutan that such is not the case in Bhutan. So, we retracted this information from our report, posted on our website.”
About decline in ranking, RWB’s head of Asia-pacific desk explained that it was not only due to situations in Bhutan but also because of rise or drop in the rank by other countries.
The Reporters Without Borders contacted two people on anonymity from Bhutan, who are specialised in politics and history to answer the questionnaire with 117 questions.
The organisation relied on their honesty and expertise to assess the state of media freedom in Bhutan.
The RWB will soon have its correspondent in Bhutan, who will report the organisation on press freedom violations in the country. They have contacted the Journalists’ Association of Bhutan in September last year to recruit a correspondent.
