World Press Freedom Index: Ukraine ranks 107th

Ukraine ranks 107th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index for 2015.

The ranking was released by Reporters Without Borders international human rights organization.

According to the index, Ukraine managed to improve its rating by 22 points as compared to the previous year (129th). Ukraine also scored 39.1 points out of 100, i.e. the Reporters experts have recorded an improvement of 6.17 points as compared to the previous year. At the same time, they point to the “noticeable problems” for media.

It should be noted that the ranking for Ukraine does not cover the occupied territory of Crimea and the so-called “LPR” and “DPR”.

The executive director of the Institute of Mass Information and representative of the Reporters Without Borders in Ukraine Oksana Romaniuk noted that it was one of the most significant upgrades of that rating.

“It is partially linked to the decrease in the number of attacks on journalists (the last year’s ranking was heavily affected by the mass beatings of journalists on Maidan and the war in eastern Ukraine). The ranking also reflects the overall improvement in the situation after the appointment of the new government, in particular, the recent media reform. However, 107th place is still not so great. We still have the problems of independency of the media, the pressure of oligarchs in the media sector, the temptation of the “information war” with Russia, the issue of impunity for the attacks on journalists and so on,” Romaniuk said.

In general, the Reporters state, the level of media freedom in the world fell sharply in 2015, the Radio Liberty reports.

In particular, the government agencies have stepped up restrictions on the work of journalists in Turkey, Poland, Tajikistan and Egypt. The independent media outlets are also subjected to pressure of “religious ideologies” and “large-scale propaganda machine” more often than earlier.

“The oligarchs are buying up the media outlets throughout the world and exercise pressure, which combines with the pressure of the government,” the Reporters note.

The best place for the journalists among the post-Soviet countries is Estonia which ranks 14th in the list.

Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand are named the countries where the freedom of press is respected the most.

China, Syria, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea are placed at the end of the list. Tajikistan is named among the countries that have demonstrated the greatest setback in 2015 as President Emomali Rahmon, according to human rights activists, used the fight against terrorism to persecute the dissenters.