Freedom House released its 2015 Freedom of the Press report last week, with Tunisia garnering the best score of any Arab country in more than a decade, coming in at 48 out of 199 countries. Lebanon, which came in at 55, Kuwait, at 59, and Tunisia are the only countries within the Arab world classified as "Partly Free" by the annual study.
The report also said that only 2 percent of people within the Middle East and North Africa region live in "Free" media environments while 93 percent live in "Not Free" countries. Ranking countries more broadly, the report groups countries into four categories: "Free," "Partly Free," "Not Free," and "Worst of the Worse."
None of the Arab countries made it to the "Free" category, while the majority were classified as "Not Free," with Syria classified as "Worst of the Worse" and ranked at No. 90. Regionally, Iran was also classified as "Worst of the Worse," tying with Syria at 90, and Turkey was classified as "Not Free" at 65.
Algeria was formerly ranked as "Partly Free" but slid to "Not Free." Egypt, Iraq and Libya all received lower rankings in this year's report compared with last year. Syria's ranking declined even more from previous years, which the report credits in large part to the country's ongoing civil war.
Within the Gulf, Kuwait was the highest ranked at No. 59 and Qatar followed at 67. The report noted concerns about Qatar's new cybercrime law stating, "Qatar passed a new cybercrime law that included onerous penalties for 'false news' and defamation, though there are hopes that a new Open Data Policy will improve transparency and access to government sources.”
Globally, press freedom decreased dramatically last year, reaching its lowest point in over a decade. According to the report, "journalists around the world encountered more restrictions from governments, militants, criminals, and media owners."
“Journalists faced intensified pressure from all sides in 2014,” said Jennifer Dunham, project manager of the report, according to a press release by Freedom House.
“Governments used security or antiterrorism laws as a pretext to silence critical voices, militant groups and criminal gangs used increasingly brazen tactics to intimidate journalists, and media owners attempted to manipulate news content to serve their political or business interests.”
Norway and Sweden came in as top performers in the study. Overall, Europe possessed the highest average level of press freedom of all regions. However, the report also noted that even Europe registered its "second-largest net decline over the past 10 years."
Here are the rankings for the MENA region:
1. Tunisia at 48
2. Lebanon at 55
3. Kuwait at 59
4. Algeria at 61
5. Turkey at 65
6. Jordan at 66
6. Morocco at 66
7. Qatar at 67
8. Oman at 71
9. Egypt at 73
9. Libya at 73
10. United Arab Emirates at 76
11. Yemen at 78
12. Saudi Arabia at 83
13. Bahrain at 87
14. Iran at 90
14. Syria at 90