New York - A New York based non-profit organization Freedom House released the latest report on freedom of the press.

The report, published annually since 1980, assesses the degree of press freedom in every country in the world. 

The report indicates that the press freedom in the world has declined in 2008 compared to 2007 on a global scale in both authoritarian countries as well as established democracies.

The report also points out Central and Eastern Europe as a worrisome case with Russia being the worst example.

The Czech Republic achieved the same scores it did last year. Due to the decline of press freedom in some other countries that were previously in a higher position than the Czech Republic, Czechs took 25th place, instead of the 29th last year.

Czech news reporting in trouble

The greatest freedom of the press in post-communist countries is enjoyed in Estonia, with the Czech Republic and Lithuania taking the second best place in this category.

Even though press freedom is quite well established in the Czech Republic, the number of viewers dissatisfied with the news reporting and irresponsible tabloids is steadily growing, says the paragraph dedicated to the Czech Republic.

Nonetheless, the Freedom House assesses the general state of press freedom in the Czech Republic to be higher than in Austria and Japan.

The list is traditionally headed by Scandinavian countries with Finland almost permanently occupying the first place.

The least free countries worldwide are Turkmenistan, Burma and North Korea.