Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) has said that it does not accept the rankings of the World Press Freedom Index.

Broadcom’s president Mohamed Shaheeb made the statement at a press conference on Thursday, where he noted that the Press Freedom Index is established ‘without any input from the Commission’.

Published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries; Maldives currently ranks at 120.

Noting that the World Press Freedom Index is published annually, Shaheeb said that the reason the Commission does not accept its ranking is because of RSF’s failure to obtain clarification from them, despite being the parent body of all broadcasting stations.

While press freedom in the Maldives has been in steady decline, RSF noted that this is due to the current administration’s continued persecution of independent media and added that ‘many journalists have been the target of death threats from political parties, criminal gangs and religious extremists.’

Reporters Without Borders emphasized that ‘this poisonous climate reinforces self-censorship’.

RSF also noted that the 2016 anti-defamation law was being used to intimidate and force the shutdown of media outlets.

While media outlets can be fined between MVR 50,000 and MVR two million, private broadcaster RaajjeTV has been slapped with defamation fines on four difference occasions, and has paid a total of MVR 3.7 since its introduction.

Shaheeb, at Thursday’s press conference, also admitted that they have not been fair in their investigations into defamation complaints.