Armenian media is “not free” according to Freedom House

Freedom House organization has published the next report on the media freedom in the whole world. According to the official web-site of the organization the Middle East and North Africa saw dramatic if precarious gains in press freedom in 2011, and for the first time in eight years, global media freedom did not experience an overall decline. However, due to downgrades in some previously free countries, the percentage of the world’s population living in societies with a fully free press has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade.

The report found that three countries—Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia—experienced significant improvements as a result of the Arab Spring. Dramatic gains in press freedom in Tunisia and Libya in particular marked major breakthroughs for countries long governed by autocratic rulers. Outside the Middle East and North Africa region, positive improvements were seen in countries including Burma, Indonesia, Niger, the Philippines, Thailand, and Zambia.

Of the 197 countries and territories assessed during 2011, a total of 66 (33.5 percent) were rated Free, 72 (36.5 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 59 (30 percent) were rated Not Free. The analysis found that only 14.5 percent of the world’s inhabitants lived in countries with a Free press, while 45 percent had a Partly Free press and 40.5 percent lived in Not Free environments.

Armenia is on the 149^th place according to the list and considered as “not free”. Georgia is on 111^th place and Turkey is on 127^th place. These two countries are considered as “partly free”. Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran also have “not free media”.

According to the report the world’s eight worst-rated countries are Belarus, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In these states, independent media are either nonexistent or barely able to operate, the press acts as a mouthpiece for the regime, citizens’ access to unbiased information is severely limited, and dissent is crushed through imprisonment, torture, and other forms of repression.