Ukraine climbs 18 spots in global press freedom ranking

The international non-governmental organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) said this in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Ukrinform reports.

Norway remains first in the press freedom ranking, while the worst situation was recorded in Eritrea.

Ukraine moved up in the ranking as a result of improvements in its security indicator – fewer journalists killed – and its political indicator.

RSF noted that the countries where press freedom is "good" are all in Europe, and more specifically within the European Union, which has adopted its first media freedom law (EMFA). The top five countries are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. Press freedom is nonetheless being put to the test in Hungary, Malta and Greece, the three lowest-ranked EU countries.

In Eastern Europe, the conditions for practicing journalism are deteriorating due to the scale of disinformation and censorship of media outlets falsely accused of undermining national security or terrorism. This is the case in Russia (162nd), Belarus (167th) and Turkmenistan (175th). Kremlin influence on media censorship was felt in Serbia, Georgia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.

In China (172nd), in addition to detaining more journalists than any other country in the world, the government continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line.