Reporters Without Borders (also known as Reporters Sans Frontiers – RSF) released its 2016 World Press Freedom Index on Wednesday, the 20th of April, identifying a sharp decline in media freedom and freedom of information at global level by over 13% from 2013 to 2016.
According to RSF, idependent media is at risk due to propaganda and increased ownership of media outlets by oligarchs. The number of incidents where governments blocked the access to media outlets, as well as blocked internet access has increased with 16% in the past 3 years. One tool increasingly used by governments is passing legislation restricting the freedom of speech, which at its turn has determined growing self-censorship among journalists.
In the Black Sea Region, the countries receiving the best scores at the 2016 World Press Freedom Index are Georgia (64), Armenia (74) and Republic of Moldova (76), while at the opposite pole are Azerbaijan (163), Belarus (157), Turkey (153) and Russia (148).
Read the detailed analysis for each country in 2016 World Press Freedom Index available here.
