Freedom of the Press 2008 - Estonia

Status: Free
Legal Environment: 4 (of 30)
Political Environment: 6 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 6 (of 30)
Total Score: 16 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

The constitution provides for and the government respects freedom of speech and of the press. Criminal libel has been removed from the penal code, and there are no legal penalties for "irresponsible journalism." Numerous media outlets operate throughout the country, and the independent media express a wide variety of views without government interference. The Public Information Act, which is the primary law governing freedom of information, obliges the authorities to assist the public in accessing public documents.

The country's public broadcasters are Estonian Television (ETV) and Estonian Radio. The two nationwide commercial television stations, Kanal 2 and TV3, are owned by Scandinavian companies. Residents have access to a number of private radio stations and regional television channels, as well as cable and satellite services. Various public and private media outlets provide Russian-language programming to the country's sizable Russian-speaking population. There are nearly 150 newspapers in the country, though most of them are financed not by advertising revenues, but by readers or owners due to the small size of the country's media market. However, according to the market research company TNS Latvia, Estonia's media advertising market volume increased by 28 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, with newspapers accounting for 40 percent of Estonia's total advertising market share; the largest measure of growth year-on-year occurred in the Internet sector. The government allows unrestricted access to the Internet. The country remains among the leading countries in the world regarding Internet penetration, with nearly 60 percent of the population active online. In late April, access to the online versions of the country's two largest newspapers, Eesti Paevaleht and Postimees, were temporarily disrupted by coordinated large-scale cyber attacks, which also targeted government and other commercial websites. The attacks were widely believed to have been conducted in retaliation for the relocation of a controversial World War II monument, an event which sparked two days of rioting in the capital city, Tallinn.