Malta clings to 37th place in latest Press Freedom report
Charlot Zahra
Malta has maintained its ranking in the latest edition of the Freedom of the Press Report published by influential US non-governmental organization Freedom House.
After three consecutive downgrades, Malta this year remained in 37th place in the world Free Press rankings, after falling from 22nd place in 2008.
Karin Kareklar, Senior Researcher and Managing Editor, Freedom of the Press Index, told MaltaToday in exclusive comments yesterday evening that Malta’s score remained stable this year “because there were no major changes in the press freedom environment in either a positive or negative direction”.
“There were no major events in Malta in 2009-- hence keeping the rating stable,” she added.
However, Malta’s ranking among the 25 advanced democracies of Western Europe was only joint 19th, together with Cyprus.
Worse than Malta there are only France (21st position, with a ranking of 23), Spain (22nd position with a ranking of 24) and Greece (23rd position), with a ranking of 29).
Finally, among the partially free, there is Italy in penultimate position, with a ranking of 33 in view of its abnormal media situation, and Turkey, with a ranking of 51.
At the top of the ranking for Western Europe there are four Nordic countries with a joint ranking of 10 – Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
In fifth place there is another Nordic country, Sweden, with a ranking of 11. Joint sixth, there the two Benelux countries, Belgium and Luxembourg, with a ranking of 12.
In eighth place we find tiny Andorra and Switzerland, which is not an EU member, with a score of 13 each.
Joint tenth, with a score of 14 each, we find another small country, Liechtenstein, together with another of the EU-12, the Netherlands.
In 12th place there is only one country, Ireland, with a score of 15.
In thirteenth place there are another two countries with a joint ranking of 16 each – Monaco and Portugal.
Joint 15th, there are another two countries – Germany and San Marino – with a joint score of 17 each, followed by the United Kingdom in 17th place with a score of 19.
Finally, in eighteenth place, there is Austria, with a ranking of 21.
In the 2009 Freedom of the Press report, Malta’s rating had dropped by two points, from 20 to 22, which had dropped its world ranking from 32 to 37.
Globally, global press freedom declined in 2009, “with setbacks registered in almost every region of the world,” Freedom House said in a statement issued on Friday.
The study, “Freedom of the Press 2010: A Global Survey of Media Independence”, showed that press freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year, “producing a global landscape in which only one in six people live in countries with a Free press,” Freedom House warned.
The survey showed that significant declines outnumbered gains by a 2-to-1 margin. “Notable regional declines were registered in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, as well as the Middle East,” Freedom House said in its report. czahra@mediatoday.com.mt
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