Malta ranks high in press freedom

Malta is advanced in press freedom, according to an annual index published by the NGO Reporters Without Borders.

This is the first time Malta has been included in this index and it ranks 11th out of 175 countries, with a better record than most established democracies such as the US, Australia, Germany and the UK.

The ranking is based on questionnaires with 40 criteria, including violence against journalists, imprisonment, physical attacks, censorship, confiscation of newspaper print runs, searches and harassment. The index also takes into account the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for press freedom violations.

Despite Malta's good performance, the EU has been harshly criticised as some of its member states performed badly during 2009.

Although Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia ranked as the best press freedom performers in the world, Bulgaria (68th place), Romania (50th) and Italy (49th) ranked very badly when compared to previous years.

"The impact of organised crime and the targeting of journalists account for the falls suffered by both Bulgaria and Italy, which got the worst ranking of the EU's six original founding members," the report notes.

"(Italian Prime Minister's) Silvio Berlusconi's harassment of the media, Mafia violence against journalists who expose its activity and a Bill that would drastically curb the media's ability to publish official phone tap transcripts explain why Italy fell for the second year running."

France fell eight points because of judicial investigations, arrests of journalists, raids on media and meddling by prominent politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy.