The number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade, according to Freedom of the Press 2011, the findings of which were released on Monday by Freedom House, an independent US watchdog organisation that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates democracy and human rights.
In the report Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence, which covers 196 countries and refers to the situation in 2010, Croatia is ranked 85th with a rating of 41 and the status of a country with a "Partly Free" press.
The report says that only 15 percent of the global population lives in countries with free media, 42 percent live in countries with partly free media, and 43 percent in countries whose media are not free.
Freedom House awards ratings ranging from 0 (best) to 100 (worst) based on 23 questions and 109 indicators. Countries with "Free" media have ratings ranging from 0 to 30, those with "Partly Free" media have ratings ranging between 31 and 60, and those whose media are in the category "Not Free" have ratings ranging from 61 to 100.
The report makes no special mention of Croatia but the part that describes the situation in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet countries says that the situation with media freedoms has remained generally unchanged.
A decline in media freedoms was reported in the slightly more free region of Central and Eastern Europe, and progress was reported in Moldova, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.
The situation with media freedoms in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia continues to be worrying, and significant negative trends were reported in Hungary and Ukraine, according to the report which ranks Croatia 12th among 29 countries in Southeast Europe.
Of those countries, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro have better ratings than Croatia. Slovenia is placed 48th and has a rating of 25 as the only country in the region with Free media. Serbia is 72nd with a rating of 33, and Montenegro is 80th with a rating of 37.
Croatia is followed by Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which share the 96th place and a rating of 48, by Albania, which is 102nd and has a rating of 50, and Kosovo, which is ranked 104th and has a rating of 51.
The rankings are once again topped by Scandinavian countries led by Finland, which has a rating of 10, and Norway and Sweden, with a rating of 11. The bottom of the rankings is occupied by Burma, Eritrea, Libya, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and North Korea.
The USA is ranked 17th, with a rating 17, Russia is 173rd with a rating 81 and China is 184th with a rating of 85. Among the Partly Free countries are also three EU members - Italy, Bulgaria and Romania.
According to the Freedom House report, of the 196 monitored countries, 68 have free media and 65 have partly free media while the media in 63 countries are not free.
