Phl Improves to 116th in Press Freedom Rankings

The Philippines remains a "difficult" country for journalists even as it improved to its highest ranking in over two decades in the annual press freedom index released by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières/RSF).

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From 134th out of 180 countries last year, the Philippines jumped 18 spots to 116th in the index released yesterday, the eve of World Press Freedom Day.

It was the country's highest ranking since 2004, when it placed 111th out of 167 countries.

Despite the improvement, the Philippines was still tagged as a "difficult" country for journalists, the second lowest out of the five classifications assigned by RSF.

Based on the latest index, the country scored 49.57 out of 100, up from last year's 43.36.

The classifications are as follows: "good" (above 85), "satisfactory" (70 to 85), "problematic" (55 to 70), "difficult" (40 to 55) and "very serious" (below 40).

The scores are based on five indicators: political, economic, legislative, social and security.