Romania outranks US on press freedom despite political censorship worries

Romania ranks better than the United States for press freedom in the most recent index by Reporters without Borders. The country has gone up two places since last year in the World Press Freedom Index, currently ranking 44th, just above the US. But despite the positive evolution, the organization draws attention to the attempts to turn Romanian media into political propaganda tools, and politic censorship worries for local media. “A bill proposed by Liviu Dragnea, president of the chamber of deputies and leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party, would penalize denigration of Romania abroad and reintroduce defamation into the criminal code. It has fueled concern about political censorship of the media,” writes the report on Romania. Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands lead the ranking on press freedom out of 180 surveyed countries. EIU: Romania, “flawed democracy” with “partly free” press editor@romania-insider.com