FREEDOM HOUSE REGISTERS CONTINUING DECLINE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN RUSSIA
The U.S.-based NGO Freedom House on April 29 released its annual assessment of media freedom around the world, noting that Russia "saw continued and substantial decline" in 2007, "The Moscow Times" and other media reported. The country was rated "Not Free," on a par with Sudan, Yemen, Kazakhstan, and others. "Lively but cautious political debate was increasingly limited to glossy weekly magazines and news websites only available to urban, educated, and affluent audiences," the report says. The NGO noted that media freedom has been on the decline throughout most of the former Soviet Union, with worsening conditions for journalists being noted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, and Turkmenistan. RC
