Estonia falls to 8^th in World Press Freedom Index

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

According to the recently released Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index for 2023, Estonia has fallen four places to eighth. Norway retained its position as top of the 180-country list.

The report noted that “although press freedom is guaranteed on the legal and political levels, journalists face the risk of self-censorship due to anti-defamation legislation and cyber-bullying”. Falling from fifth to 17^th in this particular metric.

The report also noted that although physical attacks on journalists remain extremely rare, the number of online threats by private individuals is growing. Another aspect the report highlighted for Estonia’s fall in the index was the fact that the Estonian public broadcaster has limited resources and that media ownership is essentially concentrated in the ownership of two companies (Postimees Grupp and Ekspress Grupp), who also have stakes in other business sectors.   

Elsewhere in the region, Norway remained top of the 180-country list, followed by Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland completing the top five.  Lithuania rose two places to seventh to become the top-ranked Baltic nation, Latvia also rose in the index up from 22^nd last year to 16^th in 2023.

To learn more about this and similar topics
Journalist Norway Press Freedom Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index