Reporters Without Borders Releases Annual Press Freedom Index

Media rights watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), protest in front of Iran Air offices in Paris in 2009

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has issued its latest "press freedom index."

As expected, the group's annual report condemns authoritarian regimes such as Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, China, North Korea and Turkmenistan for employing brutal methods to silence the free press.

It also warns of government pressure on the media in Rwanda, Syria, India and Russia.

It also lashes out at France and Italy for prying into "journalists' sources, the continuing concentration of media ownership and contempt and impatience on the part of government officials towards journalists."

At the other end of the spectrum, RSF praises Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland as the best places to practice journalism without being pressured by authorities.

compiled from agency reports