April 20 (SeeNews) - Montenegro climbed eight places to 106th position in Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) latest freedom of press ranking, the non-governmental organisation said on Wednesday.
Media freedom in Montenegro was among the worst in southeast Europe, outpacing only Bulgaria (113th) and Macedonia (118th), the World Press Freedom Index 2016 showed.
The Montenegrin media are subject to political and economic pressure as reporters investigating government corruption are often accused of trying to harm the nation.
"Journalists have to censor themselves because they are often the targets of violent verbal and physical attacks and those responsible enjoy virtually systematic impunity," the report noted.
Defamation has been decriminalised since 2011 but lawsuits are very common.
Published by RSF annually since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries using the following criteria – pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative environment, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses.