Amid global slide, media freedom in Greece suffers due to crisis, watchdog Freedom House finds
The media in Greece can only be considered «partly free,» the democracy watchdog group Freedom House said in its annual report on Wednesday
“Political unrest and financial pressures brought on by the European economic crisis took a toll on media freedom in Greece, which fell into the Partly Free category,” it said.
Overall, the percentage of the world’s population in countries with a completely free press fell to its lowest level in 16 years, the organization found.
Freedom House uses a variety of criteria to rank countries’ media as Free, Partly Free or Not Free, and tracks trends over time. Of the 197 countries and territories Freedom House assessed during 2012, a total of 63 (32 percent) were rated Free, 70 (36 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 64 (32 percent) were rated Not Free.
The analysis found that less than 14 percent of the world’s inhabitants lived in countries with a Free press, while 43 percent had a Partly Free press and 43 percent lived in Not Free environments.
The Freedom House report came out two days before the observance of UN-declared World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
