Armenia rose from 101 to 77 place in the press freedom rankings issued by Reporters Without Borders.
“Armenia’s 24-place rise in the index seems spectacular, but in fact it has just gone back to where it was three years ago, before the brutal crackdown after the disputed 2008 elections,” reads the Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 report.
“The media are nonetheless subject to constant judicial harassment and the size of the damages demanded in lawsuits is intimidating. Self-regulation is a major challenge that still needs to be tackled.”
Finland tops the standings followed by Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Austria.
Meanwhile, Turkey (148th) took a big step backwards and lost 10 places, while Azerbaijan is ranked 162.
“There was a dramatic rise in the number of arrests in Azerbaijan (162nd), where Ilham Aliyev’s autocratic government did not hesitate to jail netizens, abduct opposition journalists and bar foreign reporters in order to impose a news blackout on the unrest,” the report says.
