Paris Expresses Concerns Over Deteriorated Situation With Press Freedom

France is concerned about the alarming deterioration of the situation with press freedom in the world, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said Wednesday, referring to a recent report by an international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

PARIS (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, the RSF published its annual World Press Freedom Index that showed an increase in the number of countries with severely restricted press freedom, stressing that attacks on the press have become commonplace. The RSF stressed that the modern world reached an era of "propaganda and suppression of freedom, in particular, in democratic states."

"In the context of rapidly spreading propaganda, rumors and false information, freedom of the press has never been so important. The task of informing [people] has become the first ever priority. And we must ensure unconditional protection of journalists," Nadal said.

He noted that the protection of fundamental freedoms, especially freedom of expression and freedom of press was France's "foreign policy priority."

The RSF report is being published annually since 2002. The rating of press freedom in 180 countries bases on the conditional indicator, formed on the responses of experts around the world to the questionnaire and on the number of acts of violence against journalists during the period under review. The top 10 countries in the list are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Jamaica, Belgium and Iceland.

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