World Press Freedom Index acknowledges improvements in Georgia’s media landscape

The reforms of recent years have brought improvements to Georgia’s media landscape, says French-based international non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

RWB released its annual 2017 World Press Freedom Index today which revealed Georgia has maintained its positions in terms of media freedom and transparency in recent years.

In the 2017 survey Georgia ranked 64th out of 180 foreign nations, the same place as in last year’s report. Meanwhile Georgia’s position in the same report in 2015 was 69.

• You can see the 2017 World Press Freedom Index here.

"The reforms of recent years have brought improvements to Georgia’s media landscape: media ownership transparency, satellite TV pluralism, and an overhaul of the broadcasting regulatory authority”, the report said.

It added that after a "series of scandals”, the constitutional court ruled in April 2016 that surveillance by the intelligence agencies should be subjected to certain safeguards.

The report noted that violence against journalists is less frequent although threats are often reported.

"But the media continue to be very polarized and, despite some progress, media owners often call the shots on editorial content”, the report said, adding the war for ownership of the main TV channels is a source of concern for the future of pluralism.

"The fate of the main national opposition TV channel, Rustavi 2, will serve as a test”, the report added.

The Index was based on an evaluation of media freedom that measured pluralism, media independence, the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries.

Three Nordic countries – Norway, Sweden and Finland - topped this year's rating while Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan occupied bottom positions of the list.