Thursday, April 18 2019 13:11

ArmInfo. Reporters Without Borders published the annual Press Freedom Index for 2019, according to which Armenia occupied 61st position on the list of 180 countries, thus improving its position by 19 points.

According to the report published on the organization's website, the  free press situation in Armenia improved after the velvet revolution  and the pressure of the authorities on state-owned media decreased.   Armenia in the ranking scored 28.98 points.

In the region, Armenia yields only to Georgia, which this year  improved its performance by one position and ranked 60th in the  ranking. The report notes that the media environment in Georgia is  pluralistic, but again very politicized. According to the authors of  the report, the reforms carried out last year improved the situation  in terms of transparency of media owners and satellite television  pluralism, but media owners still often interfere in editorial  policy.

Meanwhile, neighboring Azerbaijan this year has deteriorated its  position and has taken the 166th position.  Iran ranks 170th, also  worsening by 6 points, while Turkey retained last year's result and  ranked 157th.

At the same time, the report "Reporters Without Borders" emphasizes  that journalists are increasingly forced to work in conditions of  targeted defamation campaigns and threats of violence.

"Journalists increasingly have to work in an atmosphere of fear, in  conditions where they are systematically harassed and forced to  slander themselves. Including in Europe, targeted discrediting and  aggressive campaigns of populist politicians against the media lead  to physical violence," said Reporters Without Borders representative  Katja Gloger. According to her, those who declare journalists guilty  of all social problems prepare the ground for their harassment, the  use of physical force and even murder. Reporters Without Borders  states that the situation with press freedom in 2018 in European  countries has generally deteriorated. However, at the same time, they  emphasize that, despite this, Europe today remains the safest region  of the world for media workers.

The leader of the ranking for the third time was Norway. It is  followed by Finland and Sweden. Germany rose by two lines and took  the 13th place, but this is not due to positive changes within the  country, but to the fact that the working conditions of media  representatives in other countries that occupied higher positions in  the rating have deteriorated. The list closes Turkmenistan (180th  place), North Korea (179) and Eritrea (178).