Freedom House: Serbia has free media

Serbia has been marked as a free country when it comes to freedom of the media in the Freedom House annual survey. According to the organization, this means that Serbia is a country with broad scope for open political competition, a climate of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life, and independent media. Freedom House: Serbia has free media Improvements were seen throughout the Balkans, said a press release announcing the report, while “by contrast, virtually all of the countries in the non-Baltic former Soviet Union continued to pursue a repressive course, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan”.. For the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009, as measured by Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2010. This represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report. Of the 47 countries ranked Not Free, nine countries and one territory received the survey's lowest possible rating for both political rights and civil liberties: Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Eritrea was downgraded to this level in the past year. The report adds that only every sixth person lives in free country and that the most significant improvements in 2009 occurred in Asia. “In 2009, we saw a disturbing erosion of some of the most fundamental freedoms – freedom of expression and association – and an increase in attacks on frontline activists in these areas,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. “From the brutal repression on the streets of Iran, to the sweeping detention of Charter 08 members in China and murders of journalists and human rights activists in Russia, we have seen a worldwide crackdown against individuals asserting their universally accepted rights over the last five years.”

Freedom House: Serbia has free media

Improvements were seen throughout the Balkans, said a press release announcing the report, while “by contrast, virtually all of the countries in the non-Baltic former Soviet Union continued to pursue a repressive course, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan”..

For the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009, as measured by Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2010. This represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report.

Of the 47 countries ranked Not Free, nine countries and one territory received the survey's lowest possible rating for both political rights and civil liberties: Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Eritrea was downgraded to this level in the past year.

The report adds that only every sixth person lives in free country and that the most significant improvements in 2009 occurred in Asia.

“In 2009, we saw a disturbing erosion of some of the most fundamental freedoms – freedom of expression and association – and an increase in attacks on frontline activists in these areas,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House.

“From the brutal repression on the streets of Iran, to the sweeping detention of Charter 08 members in China and murders of journalists and human rights activists in Russia, we have seen a worldwide crackdown against individuals asserting their universally accepted rights over the last five years.”