Georgia tops ‘media freedom’ list of Eastern Partners

Georgia has the highest degree of media freedom among the Eastern Partnership countries, according to a survey presented by the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership in Tbilisi on Thursday.

The Media Freedom Index in Eastern Partnership countries was conducted under the project ENP East Media Freedom Watch, funded by the European Union (EU).

Moldova ranked second on the list, followed by Armenia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Belarus had the lowest ranking, with 461 points compared to Georgia’s 1362.

The survey, which covered the period from October to December last year, assessed only the level of freedom of speech and not the quality of journalism in partner countries. The criteria used in the evaluation were:

• The political context (the level of rights and freedoms for media granted by the constitution);
• The actual practice (restrictions of media freedom) including: attacks, threats and detentions prosecutions access to the information censorship and self-censorship
• Access to broadcasting;
• Access to the internet.

The project was implemented by Internews Ukraine in cooperation with leading media non-governmental organisations from other partner countries.

The Eastern Partnership is an initiative of the EU governing their relationship with the post-Soviet states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, and is intended to provide a venue for discussions of trade, economic strategy, travel agreements, and other issues between the EU and its eastern neighbours.