Armenia 111th in Press Freedom Index 2009

Reporters without Borders organization has released the Press Freedom Index 2009. Armenia ranks 111^th, whereas it ranked 101^st last year.

The Index covers the period from September 2008 to August 2009. Georgia ranks 81^st , and Turkmenistan 122^nd. Azerbaijan ranks 146^th, Russia 153^rd and Iran 172^nd. At the bottom of the list are Turkmenistan (173^rd, North Korea 174^th and Eritrea (175^th).

According to the organization Index “several European nations have fallen significantly in this year’s index.”

“Journalists are still physically threatened in Italy and Spain (44th), but also in the Balkans, especially Croatia (78th), where the owner and marketing director of the weekly Nacional were killed by a bomb on 23 October 2008,” the authors state.