‘Press freedom in Cyprus must be judiciously monitored’

Press freedom in Cyprus must be judiciously monitored, the Green party said in an announcement on Tuesday.

The Greens made the announcement drawing attention to the newly released 2024 press freedom index, put out by the international non-profit, non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders (RWB), according to which the island’s index of freedom of the mass media has decreased by ten points.

“Although the reasons for this drop are not explained, the development is cause for concern,” the Greens stated, adding that “apparently members of the journalistic community in our country feel that they do not have the freedom to practice the high calling of journalism.”

According to the report’s website, Cyprus as well as “Cyprus North” are classed as “problematic”, one step away from “difficult” and two away from “very serious” which is the lowest designation.

RWB’s interactive map shows the situation in Cyprus classed as “good” in 2013-2014, while from 2015 onwards it drops to “satisfactory”, becoming “problematic” as of 2022. “Cyprus North” was classed a “problematic” all along.

Cyprus ranks 65^th out of a total of 180 countries globally examined, while “Cyprus North” ranks 90^th.

According to the NGO Norway, Denmark and Sweden still top the Index while Hungary, Malta and Greece are the EU’s worst ranked states.

The Green party urged the editors’ union to study the reasons for the encroachment on media freedom in Cyprus, according to RWB.

“We declare support for any measure that will contribute to increasing the index of media freedom in our country,” the Greens stated.’