Press Freedom Index 2013: Azerbaijani press is not free

Today the organization Reporters without Borders published their traditional annual report "Press Freedom Index for 2013."

The index reflects not only political events in the world, and is a reflection of the views and intentions of the government in relation to the freedom of the media in the medium to long term, the report notes, engulfing 179 countries.

For the third consecutive year, Finland is the country with the most respected media freedom. It is followed by the Netherlands and Norway. As before, the most non-free media remain in Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.

Azerbaijan, as before, remained in the bottom of the list, taking the 156th place. "Azerbaijan and Belarus last year occupied the lowest position after the violence to suppress opposition demonstrations, and this year they have returned to this terrible tradition," the report noted.

Most of all journalists were killed in Somalia - 11. The most dangerous for media workers are also Syria, Iran, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Sudan and Yemen. Not content with the arrest of journalists and Internet users at home, Iran also seeks relatives of journalists abroad.

The situation in the Arab countries, where there are revolutionary events and changes of government, has had no significant effect on the level of media freedom.

At the same time, some of the new governments have included journalists and Internet users, who covered those movements and protests. However, physical attacks and the lack of transparency in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya remain at a deplorable level.

Political instability often influences the media and complicates the free news coverage and investigations. In such a situation, threats and physical attacks on journalists are common.

In Russia, the level of media freedom has fallen after the return of Putin to power, and Turkey has become the biggest prison of journalists in the world.

Note that Georgia has an index of 100, and Armenia is the 74th. -02D-