Greece press freedom has risen slightly to 91st place on the World Press Freedom Index 2015 from 99th place last year (when it plummeted 14 places). The index ranks the performance of 180 countries in a number of sectors such as media pluralism and independence, press freedom and safety as well as the legislative infrastructure that governs the media.

The report shows that press freedom fell 56 places on the list from 2009 to 2014 showing yet another ugly side of the recession. Reasons cited for Greece’s poor performance includes the police violence against journalists during protests as well as several trials that involved violence against journalists without any police officers held accountable. Reporters without borders also found that the economic crisis has had grave impact on pluralism in both state and privately owned media in Greece.

In general, the index highlights the worldwide deterioration in freedom of information in 2014. Beset by wars, the growing threat from non-state operatives, violence during demonstrations and the economic crisis, media freedom is in retreat on all five continents.

The indicators compiled by Reporters Without Borders are incontestable. There was a drastic decline in freedom of information in 2014. Two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed for the 2015 World Press Freedom Index performed less well than in the previous year. The annual global indicator, which measures the overall level of violations of freedom of information in 180 countries year by year, has risen to 3,719, an 8 percent increase over 2014 and almost 10 percent compared with 2013. The decline affected all continents.

The top 10 countries are Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Canada, Jamaica and Estonia. At the bottom of the list were Syria, Turkmenistan and Eritria.