Estonia has improved its standing in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, by two spots – after having ranked eighth in 2024, the country now comes in sixth; some of the problems highlighted in 2023 still remain.
“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,” the 2024 index notes similarly to the year before.
“Although constitutionally guaranteed, media freedom is constrained by legislation protecting against defamation and disclosure of private data. While the fear of defamation lawsuits may lead to self-censorship, the laws protecting private data have recently become a pretext of Estonian authorities to increasingly restrict media’s access to public information.”
According to the index, although no long-term cultural or societal constraints have prevented journalists from doing their job, the media were accused by a part of the population of complacency with the authorities and pharmaceutical companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. “As a result, journalists suffered online and offline verbal attacks,” the index notes.
“While physical attacks against them are extremely rare, journalists have been exposed to a growing number of online threats by private individuals, the most severe cases being reported to the police and investigated. The media houses have deployed measures to better protect journalists, but in the context of lacking systematic psychological assistance, cyberbullying may have a self-censorship effect on journalists.”
Politicians are held accountable
On the plus side, the 2024 World Press Freedom Index highlights that the “political environment has been characterized by a relative neutrality towards journalism and few verbal attacks, which has contributed to journalists being able to hold politicians accountable without fear of persecution”.
In the 2022 index, Estonia rose from the 15th position to fourth. However, in 2023, it dropped four spots and placed eighth among the 180 countries evaluated. In addition to similar concerns than this year’s index is expressing, Reporters Without Borders in 2023 asserted that the “media houses have deployed measures to better protect journalists, but in the context of lacking systematic psychological assistance, cyberbullying may have a self-censorship effect on journalists”.
The freest press, according to the 2024 index, is in Norway, followed by Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Finland is ranked fifth, Portugal seventh, Ireland eighth, Switzerland ninth and Germany tenth.
The situation with press freedom in 2024 is worst in Eritrea, followed by Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea. Russia is ranked 162nd among the 180 countries evaluated.
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based non-profit and non-governmental organisation, uses five indicators to compile the press freedom index: the political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and security. The organisation has compiled and published the index since 2002.
