Armenia is leader of region in World Press Freedom Index 2014 of ‘‘Reporters without Borders’’
Armenia is a leader in the region according to the "World Press Freedom Index 2014" compiled by the international organization "Reporters without Borders”. Armenia is the second Among CIS countries, the report is published on the website of the organization.
According to the index, Armenia occupies 78th place and is ahead of Georgia, the latter is on the 84th place, while Azerbaijan is on the 160th place. Among the CIS countries, Moldova occupies 56th place, Kyrgyzstan – 97th, Tajikistan – 115th, Ukraine – 127th, Russia 148th, Belarus – 157th, Kazakhstan – 161st, Uzbekistan 166th and Turkmenistan 178th place.
As the report notes, among the post-Soviet countries the press freedom is more often violated by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The report stresses that in Azerbaijan media pluralism is endangered regarding the growing number of arrests of journalists and bloggers. TV channels are under control, the main foreign radio is banned, and the main opposition newspaper, which is distributed mainly in the capital, is on its last legs from the economic point of view. Attacks, arrests, campaigns to discredit, abductions, death threats - is the fate of recalcitrant journalists and bloggers in Azerbaijan, the report reads.
According to the report, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan are characterized by considerable pluralism and relatively weak state censorship. In Georgia and Armenia, elections were held in 2013 in a more relaxed atmosphere than the previous ones.