Southeast, Central Europe – Bar Serbia and Turkey – Rise in RSF Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 World Press Freedom Index shows that countries in Southeast and Central Europe, except for Turkey and Serbia, improved their global rankings.

“The World Press Freedom Index shows enormous volatility in situations, with major rises and falls and unprecedented changes … This instability is the result of increased aggressiveness on the part of the authorities in many countries and growing animosity towards journalists on social media and in the physical world,” Christophe Deloire, RSF Secretary General, said.

Three countries worldwide went from “problematic” to “very bad” in the index, one of which was Turkey, which went down 16 places to 165^th place our of 180 countries globally.

“The Erdogan administration in Turkey has stepped up its persecution of journalists in the run-up to elections scheduled for 14 May,” RSF said.

In 2022, media and internet freedoms hit a new low in Turkey due to new laws and regulations that increase censorship and government controls.

Only weeks before key elections on May 14, dozens of Kurdish journalists were arrested for alleged militant ties.

Serbia was the second country in the region to see a major drop in press freedom, falling by 12 places to 91st place.

RSF highlighted that the rise in the index shown by most EU Eastern European countries went hand in hand with the realisation that independent reporting can serve as a bulwark against Russian propaganda.

“Serbia (91st), where pro-government media disseminate Russian propaganda, suffered the biggest drop (-12) in the EU-Balkans region,” RSF said.

Greece ranked in 107^th place in the 2023 rankings, the worst EU country in terms of media freedom. In 2022, it ranked in 108^th place.

“In Greece (107th), spying on journalists by the intelligence agencies and by means of the Predator spyware represented the biggest press freedom violation in the European Union in 2022 and explains why Greece has the lowest ranking of any EU country in the 2023 index,” RSF said.

Albania ranked in 96^th place in 2023, up from 103rd place in 2022, but the situation there remains worrying. According to RSF, editorial independence in Albania is threatened by partisan regulations, and journalists are victims of organised crime and, at times, of police violence, worsened by the government’s failure to protect them.

“In Albania (96th), the prosecutor’s office imposed disproportionate restrictions on journalistic coverage of a cyber-attack of Iranian origin,” RSF wrote.

Apart from Turkey and Serbia, other countries in Southeast Europe and Central Europe climbed in the RSF rankings.

Montenegro showed one of the biggest improvements, rising by 24 places to 39^th place in the index.

Bosnia rose to 64^th place from 67^th place in 2022, and Croatia rose by six places to 42^nd place.

Kosovo (56^th place) North Macedonia (38^th), Bulgaria (71^st) also performed better than in 2022, rising from 61^st, 57^th and 91^st positions respectively.

Romania and Moldova followed the same trend, rising from 56^th and 40^th positions in 2022 to 53^rd and 28^th places in 2023.

In Central Europe, Czechia and Slovakia continued to climb towards the top of the list. Czechia was ranked in 14^th position globally and Slovakia in 17^th place in 2023, up from 20^th and 27^th places in 2022.

Hungary (72^nd) and Poland (57^th) also performed better in 2023 compared to 2022, rising from 85^th and 66^th positions in the ranking, though problems remain high.

“[Hungarian] Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom RSF has deemed a press freedom predator, has built a media empire whose outlets follow his party’s orders. Independent media maintain major positions in the market, but they are subject to political, economic, and regulatory pressures,” RSF said.

The 21st edition of the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by RSF, sheds light on major and often radical changes linked to political, social and technological upheavals.

The purpose of the World Press Freedom Index is to compare the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.

According to RSF’s latest index, Norway, Ireland and Denmark are the best three countries for press freedoms while Vietnam, China and North Korea were the worst three countries.