27. 10. 2004

SERBIA AT 77 ON WORLD MEDIA FREEDOM INDEX

BRUSSELS, October 27, 2004 (Tanjug) - Reporters Without Borders has announced its third annual worldwide index of press freedom. According to the organisation's monitoring of media freedom in 167 countries around the world, Serbia-Montenegro ranks at 77 on the list. Topping the list are northern European countries such as Denmark Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland, followed by Slovenia. Among the countries of the Western Balkans, Bosnia-Hercegovina ranks 21, ahead of Belgium and the US. Macedonia is at 49th place and Albanian at 50. Next comes Croatia, ranked at 54. Lower on the list are the countries of East Asia and the Middle East, where according to Reporters without Borders, independent media suffer the most pressure and censorship and so contributing to the generally poor state of human freedoms in these regions. North Korea is in the bottom of the list, close to China, Vietnam, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Iraq. Reporters without Borders say that in these countries either there are no independent media or journalists are persecuted on a daily basis. Iraq was declared the most dangerous country for media personnel with 44 journalists killed since conflicts began in March last year. Reporters without Borders compiles its index by comparing the reports of fourteen organisations dealing with freedom of expression, the reports of its global network of 130 correspondents, and reports from journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists.