Comparing the results with last year’s report, media freedom in the most countries of South East Europe is declining. Only three countries indicate progress. The development of the situation in Croatia is evaluated as positive – it soared from last year’s rank 65 to rank 58 in 2015. One main reason for the progress is Croatia’s accession to the European Union (EU) and the harmonisation of the national legislation with EU standards. The situation of Albanian media improved slightly as well.

Another KAS survey showed that more than 50 percent of Bulgarian journalists feel pressured by politics and economy.

Although Macedonia performed slightly better than in last years’ rating, it remains the South East European country with the poorest rank (117). The imprisonment of the journalist Tomislav Kezarovski was criticised by RWB and several other NGOs as an attack on the media freedom in the country.

"In some of the South East European countries, real media freedom exists only on paper," says Christian Spahr, head of the KAS Media Program South East Europe. "This is not only caused by the political situation, but also by the conditions within the media sector. In practice, too many factors inhibit the independent work of journalists. The implementation of existing laws and the efficiency of self-regulation need to be improved. Media stakeholders need to understand that a serious crisis of confidence in the media exists in many countries of the region. Not only journalists and media owners are affected by this, also politicians who want to reach the public with the help of the media."

Germany is rated on rank 12, Austria on rank 7 and Switzerland on rank 20.