Released only yesterday, Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Index 2009 is in the news. Croatian newspapers are especially lively on the subject. Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden share the first place, while Eritrea comes last (175). Indices for Central and Eastern Europe are all over the place: Estonia (6), Lithuania (10), Latvia (14), Czech Republic (24), Hungary (26), Macedonia (34), Poland (37), Slovenia (38), Bosnia & Herzegovina (39), Slovakia (45), Romania (50), Serbia (65), Bulgaria (68), Kosovo (75), Montenegro (77), Croatia (78), and Albania (88). The 2008 ranking for the region was as follows: Estonia (4), Latvia (8), Slovakia (10), Czech Republic (16), Lithuania (17), Hungary (23), Slovenia (30), Bosnia & Herzegovina (36), Macedonia (42), Croatia (45), Poland (48), Romania (49), Montenegro (54), Kosovo (58), Bulgaria (59), Serbia (64), and Albania (79). In short, there is quite some slippage across the board, but Croatia comes on top in terms of the drop. It has fallen in the ranking by no less than thirty-three points. Although it is still ahead of Albania, the least developed country in the region, it trails the ex-Socialist camp as a whole. But, as I like to tell my friends, Croatia can do even better. With some effort by our able politicians, next year it may slip by even more than thirty-three points in the ranking! And our politicians can be quite impressive when it comes to suppressing the press.

Addendum (May 24, 2018)

How does the Press Freedom Index 2018 compare to the results a decade ago? This time around, Norway is first and North Korea last. As for Central and Eastern Europe, the indices are lined up as follows: Estonia (12), Latvia (24), Slovakia (27), Slovenia (32), Czech Republic (34), Lithuania (36), Romania (44), Poland (58), Bosnia & Herzegovina (62), Croatia (69), Hungary (73), Albania (75), Serbia (76), Kosovo (78), Montenegro (103), Macedonia (109), and Bulgaria (111). Predictably enough, Croatia is doing rather poorly. Still, it is well ahead of Bulgaria, which comes at the very end of the region’s ranking. At any rate, following the Reporters without Borders’ index is a waste of time. Croatian politicians could not care less about it. Press freedom is for the birds, anyhow.