A position it has held since the index started 4 years ago!

Finland ranked first in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006, published Tuesday by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands share first place with Finland, with North Korea coming last at place 168.

Finland has been at the top of the ranking list every year since the publication of the first index in 2002.
At the opposite end of the spectrum on the Press Freedom Index, North Korea, Turkmenistan, and Eritrea bask in the questionable acclaim of being ranked as the most blatant violators of freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

Denmark, which belonged among the leaders in 2005, is now ranked 19th, owing to journalists having received death-threats because of the Muhammad caricatures. The United States was ranked only 53rd (in 2002 it was still in the top 20 countries) and France could place no higher than 35th, although it, too, was in or around the top 10 just four years ago.

The press freedom index is based on evaluations made by journalists, researchers, lawyers and human rights activists.