Georgia’s Rating Worsens in Freedom of Press Report 2017
The Freedom House organization released a report, “Freedom of the Press 2017-Press Freedom's Dark Horizon,” in which Georgia’s ranking has worsened, though it is said to have the freest media environment in the Caucasus region.
The Freedom of the Press report assesses the degree of media freedom in 199 countries and territories, analyzing the events and developments of each calendar year.
Each country and territory receives a numerical score from 0 (the freest) to 100 (the least free), which serves as the basis for a status designation of Free, Partly Free, or Not Free.
Georgia received 50 points and was ranked 102nd, which means that it remains in the category of partly free countries. However, Georgia’s ranking was better in 2015 - 96th of 199 (49 points) and 2014 - 93rd (48 points). Based on the points, Georgia is ahead of Eastern European states like Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.
“Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 amid unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their borders,” the report reads. The organization says that out of 199 countries and territories, 61 were rated Free, 72 as Partly Free and 66 as Not Free.
“Only 13 percent of the world’s population enjoys a Free press, that is a media environment where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures,” the document reads.
The world’s 10 worst-rated countries and territories in terms of media freedom were Azerbaijan, Crimea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Among the countries that suffered the largest declines were Poland, Turkey, Burundi, Hungary, Bolivia, Serbia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Thea Morrison