Armenia 79th in RSF’s freedom index, down from last year’s 74th

PanARMENIAN.Net - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has placed Armenia 79th out of 180 countries - down by five scores from the previous report - in its latest world rankings for press freedom.

Published every year since 2002 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the World Press Freedom Index ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists.

The print media are diverse and polarized in Armenia, investigative journalism prospers on the Internet, the report added.

Pluralism, however, lags behind in the broadcast media, said RSF.

According to the media watchdog, police violence against journalists "continues and still goes unpunished in the country."

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran come in the 162nd, 64th, 155th and 165th, respectively.

The United States takes the 43rd spot, while Russia is the 148th in terms of press freedom.

Norway comes out top of the index with the world’s freest media, closely followed by Sweden and Finland.

North Korea, Eritrea and Turkmenistan, on the other hand, took the bottom places.