Armenia has climbed three positions up in the World Press Freedom Index published by the Reporters Without Borders non-governmental organization and currently ranks 74th among 179 countries.
The report notes that “despite their wide dispersal in this edition of the index, Moldova (55th), Armenia (74th), Georgia (100th) and Kyrgyzstan (106th) have a number of things in common. “These countries enjoy broad media pluralism and a low level of state censorship, but they still face important challenges concerning media independence and the working environment of journalists. The latter are often in the firing line in highly polarized societies and treated as easy prey by a variety of pressure groups.”
Azerbaijan ranks 156th, Turkey – 154th and Iran – 174th, Russia – 148th.
The Nordic countries have again demonstrated their ability to maintain an optimal environment for news providers. Finland, the Netherlands and Norway have held on to the first three places.
At the other end of the index, the same three countries as ever – Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea – occupy the last three places in the index. For the second year running, the bottom three countries are immediately preceded by Syria (176th), where a deadly information war is being waged, and Somalia (175th), which has had a deadly year for journalists.
Iran (174th), China (173rd), Vietnam (172nd), Cuba (171st), Sudan (170th) and Yemen (169th) complete the list of the ten countries that respect media freedom least.
