(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles has gone down three places on the World Press Freedom Index going from 34th to place in 2023 to 37th in 2024 published by the Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a Paris-based non-governmental organisation.

The ranking is released every year to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on May 3, a date that celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom around the world.

The ranking is based on five indicators - political, economic, legislative, social and security. The political indicator has fallen the most, registering a global average fall of 7.6 points.

In 2022, the island nation was ranked 13th out of 180 countries and was the highest ranking in Sub-Saharan Africa - a ranking it lost last year when it fell 21 places on the index.

The chairman of the Association of Media Practitioners in Seychelles (AMPS), Rassin Vannier, told reporters on Friday morning that the AMPS plans "to hold consultative meetings with the authorities to stop a further decline."

Vannier was speaking at a half-day seminar AMPS held in collaboration with the French Embassy in Seychelles at L'Escale Resort and Spa to mark World Press Freedom Day.

The seminar was organised jointly by AMPS and the French Embassy in Seychelles. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

"What is important for the Association is to establish what has us continually going down in the rankings. Once we have determined the causes, we will approach the authorities concerned to see how we can find solutions for the problems so that we can go back up in the RWB ranking released annually," he added.

Reporters Without Borders defines press freedom as "the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety."

Vannier said, "It is important that we have a dialogue and come up with a solution together."

The World Press Freedom Index compares the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories. 

Vannier added that with the "harassment of our journalists, something we see every day, there is a dialogue that needs to take place between the authorities and the profession."

At the seminar which took place on Friday, Vannier said, "As elections are coming up next year, and we have had some issues when working with the Commission in the 2020 elections, we felt it would be beneficial for both parties to have a dialogue now."

Representatives from the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), TeleSesel, Seychelles Nation, Today in Seychelles and The People were among the media houses present.

Also present, was the chief elections officer, Manuella Amesbury and her team that made presentations on the role and mandate of the Electoral Commission of Seychelles (ECS).

It was also a chance for the journalists in attendance to voice their concerns on reporting on the election process as well as receive clarifications about issues concerning ECS.