Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006

In this year's Press Freedom Ranking of countries, that was published by Reporters Without Borders yesterday, Slovak republic ranks 8th world's freest country regarding the freedom of press and speech, with Northern European countries (Finland, Island, Norway), Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia and Czech republic at the very top of the table. These countries have no recorded censorship, threats, intimidation or physical reprisals of journalists or other individuals. Last year's press freedom champion, Denmark, dropped 18 places, because of serious threats against the authors of the Mohammed cartoons. United Kingdom comes 27th, which means a slight drop in the Index comparing to the 2005 Report. The RWB's table also mirrors the steady erosion of press freedom in France (35th), Japan (51st) and the United States (53rd). The worst violators of free expression are Saudi Arabia (161st), Iran (162nd), China (163rd), Burma (164th), Cuba (165th), Eritrea (166th), Turkmenistan (167th) and North Korea (168th).


According to the RWB's webpage, organization compiled the Index by asking the 14 freedom of expression organisations that are its partners worldwide, its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The Index covers 168 nations.

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