The press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently issued its eighth annual world press freedom index, which ranks countries around the world according to press freedom violations between September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009.

The Press Freedom Index 2009 reveals that freedom in some European democracies is declining. According to the report, journalists in Italy and Spain are physically threatened.

Automatic censorship, state surveillance, mistreatment and illegal imprisonment placed Iran at the bottom with with Turkmenistan (173rd), North Korea (174th) and Eritrea (175th).

The United States recovered 16 places in the index, which RSF said was due to the "Obama Effect."

Reporters Without Borders compiles the index every year on the basis of questionnaires that are completed by hundreds of journalists and media experts around the world.

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