According to the report, 2005 was the deadliest year for journalists, with at least 63 journalists and five media assistants killed worldwide and more than 1,300 media workers attacked or threatened - the highest toll since 1995, when Algerian Islamic fundamentalist groups attacked anyone who didn"t support them.
Croatia is in the 53rd position, along with Botswana, Tonga and the United States of America. Croatia went up by three position in relation to the 2005 report and one position in relation to 2004.
The first 15 countries in the Index are all members of the European Union, except for Norway (6th) abd Switzerland (8th). Among the 25 EU member states, Poland (58th) remains in the lowest position because of an increase in censorship. prison sentences and fines for defamation and insults to a person's dignity or religious feelings are common, according to the report. Poland shared the 58th place with Romania, whose rise in the Index shows that present or future membership of the EU is having a good effect on freedom of expression in Eastern Europe. Romania decriminalised defamation in June 2006.
Countries that have recently won their independence or have recovered it are very observant of press freedom and give the lie to the insistence of many authoritarian leaders that democracy takes decades to establish itself.
Bosnia-Herzegovina (19th) continued its gradual rise up the Index since the end of the war in ex-Yugoslavia and is now placed above its EU member-states neighbourg Greece (32nd) and Italy (40th)
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, Cuba, Burma and China are the worst predators of press freedom, the report says, adding that journalists in these countries were still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep the public informed.
Reporters Without Borders also underlined the not so good situation in countries such as the United States (53rd) which has fallen nine places since last year, after being in the 17th position in 2002.