Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Index: Belarus is the least free in terms of media freedom

While Ukraine improved its position in media freedom index, and Georgia took the lead, Azerbaijan and Belarus are placed towards the end of the ranking.

According to the research, Georgia remains the leader of the Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Index for the first half of 2014, while Moldova came in second. Ukraine has switched places with Armenia, and now holds the third position. Whereas Belarus together with Azerbaijan follow towards the end of the ranking.

The total results for the participant countries are as follows.

With less than 100 points out of 240, Belarus takes the last place in the Politics section that determines the level of rights and freedoms granted by the Constitution and laws of the country to the media and journalists, their compliance with international norms and standards, presence of censorship by official bodies, etc. The second time in a row, Belarus's index in the section turned more than 2 points, which, unfortunately, doesn’t really demonstrate any improvements in the media sphere in Belarus, but is rather related to shifts in the system of axes at the background of the tragic events in Ukraine, baj,by remarks.

As to the Practice section that defines the role of the state in ensuring rights and freedoms of media and journalists, the reaction of authorities to cases of unlawful restrictions, Belarus slightly excels Azerbaijan: the two countries are in the last position in this section with about 350 points, while the maximum score is 1110 points.

The Broadcasting section specifies the level of freedom of broadcasting companies, access to the air time and other similar criteria. Zero points were given to the question about public broadcasting in Belarus – it does not exist. Most experts find it impossible to create an independent public broadcaster without holding political reforms. Among all the countries Belarus shows the worst results according to this criterion, as it also does in the Internet and new media section that determines the level of freedom of the internet and access to it.

The Eastern Partnership Media Freedom Index covers the first half of 2014. It is compiled quarterly within the framework of the project EaP Media Freedom Watch. The work has been carried out by 60 media experts from the Eastern Partnership countries and is based on a summing up of points obtained by participants’ countries in the areas of politics, practice, broadcasting internet and media.