The study that looked at media freedom in six countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) showed that Georgian media are the most independent while Belarus and Azerbaijan have the most state pressure on theirs.
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The study was conducted between March and May 2013, by the Yerevan Press Club, Internews Ukraine, and other NGOs based in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries.
"To get the rating, media experts (journalists and advocates) responded to such questions as, for example, 'To what extent is the opposition represented in national news outlets? To what extent are news outlets free to disclose matters regarding state officials' possessions? Does independent public television exist in the country? How widespread is pressure on private television stations? Is there a state monopoly in the provision of internet services sector?' and so on, evaluating these with a score of 0 to 3," says Yerevan Press Club expert Mikayel Zolyan.
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