Page 16 - bne_newspaper_May 5 2017

Eastern Europe
May 5, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
Citizens despondent on media freedom in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova
bne IntelliNews
Only 29% of Ukrainians believe their country has a lot of freedom, one of the lowest percentages of the 131 surveyed countries for the Gallup World Poll, whose results were released on May 3. It’s a similar situation in Belarus and Moldova, where just 32% and 35% of respondents respectively think their country has a free press.
“Results from Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine reflect the ongoing lack of journalistic independ- ence in much of the former Soviet sphere,” Gal- lup said.
The Moldovan media is believed to be largely controlled by the country’s oligarchs and
politicians, and as such serves their interests. Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), which ranked Moldova 80th out of 180 countries in terms of media freedom, said the Moldovan media is diversified but extremely polarised. The editorial lines of the leading media outlets correlate closely with the political and business interests of their owners, the RSF report said.
Across the 131 countries surveyed for the Gallup World Poll, a median of 61% of residents said the media in their respective countries have a lot of freedom, while 28% disagreed.
Elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, views of media freedom have grown significantly
more negative in Lithuania since 2015. But
it was in Georgia that the biggest decline in perceived media freedom occurred, with the report pointing to “public indignation over the Georgian government's attempt to take over
an opposition-oriented TV station.” In March, Georgia's leading tribunal overruled two previous verdicts by granting sole ownership of Rustavi 2 to a former shareholder known for his ties to the government.
European countries dominate the high end of the range, with more than 90% of residents in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden saying their media have a lot of freedom. The US is further down the list, at 82%, which is similar to the 81% recorded in 2015.