Finland Times

 

Newspapers in a shop. File Photo Lehtikuva.

Finland ranked top for the fifth consecutive year in the index of World Press Freedom 2015 released by Paris-based international organisation Reporters Without Borders on Thursday.

 

The Reporters Without Borders ranked the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria that include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists, and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural environment in which the media operate.

 

Two other Scandinavian countries Norway and Denmark ranked second and third respectively followed by Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Canada, Jamaica and Estonia.    

 

File picture of working journalists. File Photo Lehtikuva.

Eritrea was at the bottom of the list followed by North Korea and Turkmenistan.

 

According to the index, France is ranked 38th (up one place), the United States 49th (down three places), Japan 61st (down two places), Brazil 99 (up 12 places), Russia 152 (down four places), Iran 173rd (unchanged) and China 176th (down one place).

 

The 2015 World Press Freedom Index highlights the worldwide deterioration in freedom of information in 2014. 

 

The indicators compiled by Reporters Without Borders are incontestable. There was a drastic decline in freedom of information in 2014. Two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed for the 2015 World Press Freedom Index performed less well than in the previous year.