Finland ranked historically low in the comparison of press freedom

Finnish ranked historically low in the press freedom index of the international organization Reporters Without Borders. Finland is in sixth place.

This is Finland’s lowest ranking in the entire index’s 25-year publication history. The issue will become clear from what was published on Thursday from the report.

The previous four years, Finland ranked fifth. Before 2016, Finland was often the number one country in the index.

Norway is again at the top of the index. The Netherlands, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden are also ranked ahead of Finland.

Finland barely remains among the top countries, as press freedom is classified as “good” in only seven countries. Finland is followed by Ireland in seventh place. Only less than 0.7 percent of the world’s population lives in this so-called “green zone”.

Finland last year’s ranking fell the most due to the legal framework. Finland lost three places in this key component of the index.

The report mentions the one that started in 2017 The message center thingwhere the Supreme Court did not grant leave to appeal last year. Two Helsingin Sanomat journalists were convicted of revealing a security secret and attempting the same crime.

“The fact that a journalist is also judged for unpublished stories is a matter of principle for the entire media. It is also very exceptional in European terms,” ​​Helsingin Sanomat’s Editor-in-Chief Erja Yläjärvi comment court decision in December.

In addition, the report mentions that the past year was dark for Finnish media companies. Change negotiations took place not only at Yle, STT, Sanomie and MTV, but also at Viestimedia and Keskisuomalai, which have been considered stable in recent years.

Index paints a grim picture of the global press freedom situation. The index includes 180 countries, in 100 of which the press freedom index weakened compared to the previous year.

For the first time in the 25-year history of the survey, freedom of the press has been classified as either “difficult” or “very serious” in more than half of the world’s countries and regions.

When the index was first published in 2002, only less than 14 percent of countries belonged to these categories.

The index evaluates press freedom based on five areas: political operating environment, legal framework, economic conditions, socio-cultural atmosphere and safety of journalists.