Georgia improves position on World Press Freedom Index
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Freedom of the press in Georgia is improving, according to a report by international organisation Reporters without Borders.
The World Press Freedom Index report, released today, noted Georgia had improved its position worldwide on an international scale that ranked freedom of the press among 180 countries.
Georgia ranked 69th among 180 countries by the World Press Freedom Index report.
The 2015 report ranked Georgia in 69th place.
When compared to last year’s result, Georgia had improved its position on the Press Freedom Index by 15 places. In 2014 Georgia ranked 84th among the 180 counties surveyed.
Georgia's the World Press Freedom Index score by years.
The Index saw each country evaluated in seven categories – Pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency and infrastructure. According to this Georgia gained a score of 27.7.
Lower scores mean better press freedom and higher scores mean less press freedom. For example Finland, which was named the country with the most press freedom, gained a score of 7.52, while Eritrea, which was bottom of the list, gained a score of 84.86.
This year’s World Press Freedom Index highlighted the worldwide deterioration in freedom of information in 2014.
"Transparency about media ownership has improved, although news outlets are politically polarised and still not very independent,” stated Reporters without Borders.
According to the 2015 World Press Freedom Index, the top five countries with the most press freedom are: Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, while North Korea and Eritrea were the two lowest-ranked countries with very little press freedom.
Georgia has been named as one of Eurasia’s brightest stars by independent watchdog organization Freedom House.
Georgia has scored its best rating in 15 years on the Freedom of the Press report and improved its rating from 49 in the previous survey to 47 in the current one. The country is mentioned as "partly free” but was the leader in the region.
The report stated the country’s media environment had improved and was found to be "independent and balanced”. Television continued to be the main medium and primary source of information for 80 percent of the population.
French-based, international non-profit organisation Reporters without Borders (RWB) has released its annual 2016 World Press Freedom Index which revealed Georgia has progressed in terms of media freedom and transparency in recent years.
Access to information underpins society’s democratic development, says PM
The values of freedom of expression and access to information underpin the democratic development of any modern society, says Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
A high official from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation (OSCE) is praising Georgia for the progress it’s recently made in media pluralism and freedom of the press.
A survey by the Caucasus Research Resource Centre (CRRC) into attitudes towards Georgia’s media shows public trust is declining however growing numbers of people have an ambivalent attitude.
Georgia remains ‘partly free’ in the latest report by independent watchdog Freedom House. On a seven-point scale of the freedom rating, where one point meant the most free and seven points meant the least free, Georgia ranked three points.
International, non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which promotes and defends freedom of information and the press, has upgraded Georgia’s freedom of press index by three points.
The EU and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Georgia have released findings on media coverage of elections in Georgia over the past three years.
The 2020 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders says that ‘Georgia’s media are pluralist but still very polarized,’ adding that the reforms of recent years have brought improvements in media ownership transparency and satellite TV pluralism,’ but owners still often call the shots on editorial content.’