The Baltic Course
Danuta Pavilenene
22.10.2008.
The media in Lithuania is becoming freer and freer, shows the research conducted by the international organization “Reporters Without Borders”. Estonia was ranked the third and Latvia – 12th.
This year, Lithuania shares the 16th place with the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Portugal in the international rating. Last year, our country occupied the 23rd place and two years ago Lithuania was ranked 27th. According to the research, Lithuanian journalists have higher press freedom than Germans, Brits and French, yet they are less free than their colleagues in other Baltic states.
According to the annual rating, Iceland”s and Norwegian journalists have the highest freedom of press. Estonia was ranked the third. Latvia also did better than our country – it was ranked the 12th. A total of 173 countries were ranked.
All EU member states were listed among the top 50 positions, except Bulgaria (51st position) and Poland (56th position).
Russia remains in the end of the table. This year, it was given the 144th place. The situation is the worst in Eritrea, Northern Korea and Turkmenistan.