02 May 2011, 22:40
Freedom House: Georgia is best in Southern Caucasus by freedom of press
Today, the international NGO Freedom House has issued a comparative analysis of the status with the freedom of press in 196 countries worldwide. Georgia is in the 118th place, which is the best among the countries of Southern Caucasus.
According to the report, the best situation with the freedom of press among the countries of Southern Caucasus is in Georgia, which, according to the Freedom House's rankings, has 55 points and takes the 118th position in the world. According to the estimate of the NGO, the press in Georgia is partially free.
In other studied countries of Southern Caucasus - Armenia (65 points and the 146th place) and Azerbaijan (79 points and the 171st place) - the press is not free.
According to the researchers, in Russia the situation with the freedom of press is even worse: 81 points and the 173rd place, along with Congo, Gambia and Zimbabwe.
According to the Freedom House, over the past years, the situation with the freedom of press has deteriorated markedly in many countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Ukraine.
The leaders in terms of the freedom of press are Finland (10 points), Norway and Sweden (both 11 points), while the outsiders are North Korea (97 points), Turkmenistan (96 points), Burma, Eritrea, Libya and Uzbekistan (all 94 points) and Belarus (93 points).
The Freedom House has also posted on the Internet a free-accessible map of the world, showing in different colours the level of the freedom of press in the studied countries.
