The report notes Albania has made progress, while Kosovo marked a step back
TIRANA, May 2 – Freedom House has released its annual index on press freedom around the world, with Albania and Kosovo again ranked in the category of countries with partly free media. The report notes Albania has made progress, while Kosovo marked a step back. Albania’s score is 49, up two points from 51 last year, on a scale where 0 is a positive outcome and 100 is most negative.
Regarding the ranking of countries, Albania is 96th among 197 countries, compared to 107th place last year. Kosovo ranks 102 compared to 98 last year.
Project Director for Freedom House Karin Karlekar said key findings in Albania and Kosovo indicate the countries still have some work to do but noted progress.
“The year’s rankings saw an improvement in Albania. The result for Albania grew by two points, which is a positive trend compared to what we have seen in recent years. One of the positive developments that we have seen is the elimination of prison sentences for defamation cases in the legal sphere. I think it resulted in larger improvements in the media environment,” she said in an interview with VOA’s Albanian section.
The percentage of the world’s population living in societies with a fully free press has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade, according to the Freedom House report released last week.. An overall downturn in global media freedom in 2012 was punctuated by dramatic decline in Mali, deterioration in Greece, and a further tightening of controls in Latin America. Moreover, conditions remained uneven in the Middle East and North Africa, with Tunisia and Libya largely retaining gains from 2011 even as Egypt experienced significant backsliding.
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.
