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Georgia moves to 96th place in freedom of press ratings

Interpressnews reports that according to Freedom House, Georgia's freedom of the press rating has moved from 111st place to 96th -an improvement by 15 points since last year. However, Georgia remains on the list of partly free countries.

According to Freedom House, Georgia’s improved position is mostly due an increased variety of TV news channels, including the return of Imedi TV to its previous owner.

The report also emphasizes that "more balanced and open media coverage prior to the parliamentary elections...helped lead to gains for opposition parties and, in Georgia, a peaceful transfer of power."

Freedom House carries out research in 197 countries by measuring freedom of the press through legal, economic and political criteria. The countries in the 0 to 30 scores are classified as free states; those who scored 31 to 60 are partly free, while those who score 61-100 are classified as non-free countries.

The first five countries in the list of free states are Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium. In total 63 countries have been classified as free, 70 as partly free and 64 as non-free.