Global press freedom declined last year to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a report issued Wednesday by an international human rights monitoring organization.

Freedom House's annual survey said journalists across the world face restrictions¹ placed on them by forces including authoritarian² governments, terrorists and media owners with business interests.

The worst offenders³ on the organization's ranking of 199 nations or territories were North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Cuba, Syria, Iran and Crimea. Norway, Sweden and Belgium topped the list.

Overall, Freedom House says just 14 percent of the world's population lives in free countries "where coverage⁴ of political news is robust⁵, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal⁶, and the press is not subject to onerous⁷ legal or economic pressures."

一个国际人权监督组织星期三发表报告说，去年全球新闻自由度降至10多年来的最低点。

自由之家发表的年度报道说，世界各地的新闻记者面临各种势力施加的限制，包括专制政府、恐怖分子以及有商业利益的媒体所有者。

自由之家对199个国家和地区的新闻自由度进行了排名，最差的国家和地区是朝鲜、乌兹别克斯坦、土库曼斯坦、白俄罗斯、古巴、叙利亚、伊朗和克里米亚。最好的国家是挪威、瑞典和比利时。

自由之家说，总体而言，世界上只有14%的人生活在自由国家：“这些国家里记者可以充分报道政治消息，记者的安全得到保障，国家对媒体事务只做最低程度的干预，而且媒体不会受到强大的法律和经济压力。”