2015 World Press Freedom Index is Published
The non-governmental organization “Reporters Without Borders” published the annual World Press Freedom Index; it revealed a significant decrease of the level of freedom in all countries.
This year Ukraine is ranked 129th among 180 countries included on the list; the worse index ranking over the last 10 years. Ukraine was ranked the lowest, 132nd, in 2004. An insignificant increase was observed after Orange Revolution, but later the index showed a decrease: 116th in 2012, 126th in 2013, and 127th in 2014.
Russia was ranked 152nd compared to 148th last year.
The country with the highest level of freedom for the last six years is Finland. The top ten countries traditionally includes the Northern European States: Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, and Estonia. The other end of the scale is represented by Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
“Reporters Without Borders” says that in 2014 the situation has become worse all over the world. Some of the main reasons are: war conflicts, activities of the terrorist groups, abuse of demonstrators and economic crises.
The World Press Freedom Index ranks the independence of mass media, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructure environment in which the media operate.
