Freedom of the press has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, NGO Reporters without Borders (RSF) warned Thursday as it released its annual global ranking. The group reported a worldwide decline in media freedom, citing factors ranging from US President Donald Trump’s “systematic” attacks on the press to actions in Saudi Arabia, where a journalist was executed in 2025.
Issued on: 30/04/2026
By: FRANCE 24
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he hosts the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. © Brendan Smialowski, AFP
The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to asses the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good".
This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms.
"For the first time in the index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," RSF said.
The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20% to "less than 1%", it said.
Only seven countries in northern Europe are ranked "good", with Norway receiving the highest rating. France ranks 25th, with a ‘"satisfactory" score.
“In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low,” the NGO said.
The United States, received a "problematic" rating and has dropped seven places to 64th, between Botswana and Panama.
The organisation said US President Donald Trump's attacks on the press had become “systematic” resulting in such incidents as the the detention and subsequent deportation of the Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was reporting on the arrests of migrants in the United States.
Trump has also overseen a drastic reduction in funding for US international broadcasting.
The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to asses the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good".
This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms.
"For the first time in the index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," RSF said.
The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20% to "less than 1%", it said.
Only seven countries in northern Europe are ranked "good", with Norway receiving the highest rating. France ranks 25th, with a ‘"satisfactory" score.
“In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low,” the NGO said.
The United States, received a "problematic" rating and has dropped seven places to 64th, between Botswana and Panama.
The organisation said US President Donald Trump's attacks on the press had become “systematic” resulting in such incidents as the the detention and subsequent deportation of the Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was reporting on the arrests of migrants in the United States.
Trump has also overseen a drastic reduction in funding for US international broadcasting.
RSF also highlighted the dramatic falls of El Salvador (143rd), which has dropped 105 places since 2014 following the launch of a war against the Maras criminal gangs, and Georgia(135th), which has fallen 75 places since 2020 due to an “escalation of repression”.
The sharpest decline in 2026 is attributed to Niger (120th, down 37 places) due to the “the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel over several years”, amid “attacks by armed groups and (the) ruling juntas”, RSF said.
Saudi Arabia (176th, down 14 places), where the columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state in June – “a unique occurrence in the world” – sits alongside Russia, Iran and China at the very bottom of the ranking, which is rounded out by Eritrea (180th).
By contrast, Syria (141st) has leapt 36 places following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Reporters Without Borders head on group's list of 'press freedom predators'
Issued on: 03/11/2025 - FRANCE24
09:30 min
From the show
The director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the "series of crises" affecting journalism. Thibaut Bruttin hit out at the "return of violence against journalists" and the "erosion of support" for the protection of journalism. Bruttin was speaking to us to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. This year, his organisation is unveiling what it calls a list of 34 "press freedom predators" who attacked journalists and the right to information in 2025.
BY: Stuart Norval
Issued on: 03/11/2025 - FRANCE24
09:30 min
From the show
The director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the "series of crises" affecting journalism. Thibaut Bruttin hit out at the "return of violence against journalists" and the "erosion of support" for the protection of journalism. Bruttin was speaking to us to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. This year, his organisation is unveiling what it calls a list of 34 "press freedom predators" who attacked journalists and the right to information in 2025.
BY: Stuart Norval
World press freedom hits new low as authoritarianism rise
With three in four countries "problematic" or worse, the 2026 World Press Freedom Index offers a bleak picture for global media. The conditions for press freedom are rated "satisfactory" in only a few dozen countries.
All data, methodology and code behind this story can be found in this github repository.
DW
29/04/2026
With three in four countries "problematic" or worse, the 2026 World Press Freedom Index offers a bleak picture for global media. The conditions for press freedom are rated "satisfactory" in only a few dozen countries.
All data, methodology and code behind this story can be found in this github repository.
In many countries around the world, working as a journalist has become increasingly dangerous
Image: Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto/picture alliance
The ability of journalists to work safely and independently is under threat globally, according to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The NGO, which has reported on the state of worldwide journalism annually since 2002, defines press freedom as "the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety."
RSF now classifies the press freedom environment as "problematic" or worse in about three-fourths of the 180 countries evaluated. Conditions for media are classified as "difficult" to "very serious" in over half of the countries, RSF found.
In 2013, conditions in fewer than one-third of countries were classified as "difficult" to "very serious." The press freedom environment in seven-tenths was classified as "problematic" or worse.
Though there's a global downward trend, press freedom varies by region. Generally, the freest countries — including the top four: Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark — can be found in Europe, while journalists in parts of Africa and Asia face the harshest conditions.
Discrepancies within regions can also be pronounced. In Europe, for example, there's a strong divide between the Southern and Eastern regions, where challenges to press freedom are higher, and the Northern and Western regions, where countries are generally ranked as "satisfactory" to "good." Similarly, journalists in North Africa are, in general, less free than their counterparts in the Southern region of the continent.
Poland and Slovakia take different paths
One example of an interregional divide can be found in the heart of Europe: The press in Poland has become freer, while hostility toward the media is growing in Slovakia. Both countries are classified as "satisfactory," but they are trending in different directions
According to RSF, the turning point for Poland was a change in government. After the Law and Justice party (PiS), which opposed abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and pushed anti-migration policies, was ousted from power in late 2023, the new government toned down verbal attacks and judicial actions against the press.
An election that year also served as a turning point in Slovakia, where, after years in the opposition, Robert Fico began his fourth term as prime minister in 2023.
"He has a long career behind him, and it was always his narrative that journalists are his enemy," said Lukas Diko, the editor-in-chief of the Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak (ICJK), an independent news organization named after a journalist murdered during Fico's third term.
Kuciak had been investigating connections between organized crime groups and businesses in Slovakia that were linked to members of Fico's ruling party. Though Kuciak's killing led to a wave of anti-corruption protests that helped bring down Fico's government in 2018, Diko said attacks on the press had escalated since the prime minister returned to office.
"It's really without any rules," he said.
Diko said the fear caused by the murder of a young journalist and the hostile official rhetoric had discouraged people from careers in reporting.
"Not many young people want to become journalists anymore," he said. "The murder of Kuciak is still something that tells them not to do it — but they also don't want to be verbally attacked on a daily basis."
Attacks on press as a political strategy
Argentina is another country that has sharply dropped in the index. Media advocates say anti-press smear campaigns waged by President Javier Milei, whose hard-right policies favor financial freedoms above all others, have created a hostile climate for journalists. He often uses social media to attack critics, and claims that journalists are "not hated enough."
"When Milei insults a journalist, he is not doing that as Milei, the economist, or Milei, an ordinary citizen," said Fernando Stanich, the president of the Argentine press forum FOPEA, an organization that defends freedom of expression and promotes quality journalism. "He is doing that as the main representative of the Argentinian state. "
Stanich said previous Argentine governments had been hostile to the press — the Peronist Cristina Kirchner had frequently sparred with the media as president from 2007 to 2015 — but, according to FOPEA's monitoring, the current level of verbal attacks on journalists is unprecedented.
Like Argentina's Milei and Slovakia's Fico, US President Donald Trump has insulted and threatened the press since his first campaign for office in 2016. Coincidentally, the United States has also seen a significant drop in its standing in the World Press Freedom Ranking, along with other countries where leaders follow the same playbook — such as El Salvador.
Argentina, Slovakia and the United States show how quickly countries considered relatively stable and democratic can become hostile to journalists. The press has never been free in Eritrea, China, North Korea and Iran, which have long been ruled by authoritarian regimes that silence independent reporting.
According to the RSF report, "armed conflict is the primary reason for [the] decline in press freedom" in countries such as Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza following the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7, 2023, more than 220 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, including at least 70 while working, the report states.
Networks fight threats to press freedom
Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, a professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool, said societal threats to press freedom fell into three main categories. The use of political structures to intimidate or harm journalists, including verbal attacks by public officials and threats of violence and incarceration, is the most obvious indicator of press freedom in decline. But societal and economic factors, such as the targeting of journalists for their gender, race or sexual orientation and the pressures of a precarious media labor market, can also curtail press freedoms.
Slavtcheva-Petkova said journalists could fight such challenges by banding together, as well as by collaborating with organizations that share their values, including rights activists and academics.
"Knowing that there is somebody you can rely on for support is very important," Slavtcheva-Petkova said. "When journalists don't have that, when they don't know whom to turn to for help ... then they feel that what they're experiencing might even be their own fault."
With most journalists worldwide now working in conditions that are problematic at best, as the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index demonstrates, such networks are likely to take on increased importance in the coming years — both within countries and internationally. Only 17 countries improved their press freedom scores from 2013 to 2026; conditions in 163 got worse.
South Africa is one example of a country with robust networks to fight for press freedom. The country has maintained its "satisfactory" rating since 2013, resulting in a steady climb in the rankings as other nations' scores have slipped.
Glenda Daniels, a journalist and professor of media studies at Wits University in Johannesburg, said a strong civil society had helped South Africa maintain its status as press freedom declines globally. Despite challenges common to journalists across the world — including biases against and threats to women in the media and a shrinking labor market — Daniels said strong networks had helped preserve press freedom in South Africa.
Daniels herself serves as secretary-general of the South African National Editors’ Forum, which defends journalists' right to conduct their work. "SANEF is loud and noisy," she said. "It makes a difference to have a strong civil society approach, advocacy and activism."
Edited by: Gianna Grün and Milan Gagnon
All data, methodology and code behind this story can be found in this github repository. More data-driven stories by DW can be found on this page.
Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski Data journalist
The ability of journalists to work safely and independently is under threat globally, according to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The NGO, which has reported on the state of worldwide journalism annually since 2002, defines press freedom as "the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety."
RSF now classifies the press freedom environment as "problematic" or worse in about three-fourths of the 180 countries evaluated. Conditions for media are classified as "difficult" to "very serious" in over half of the countries, RSF found.
In 2013, conditions in fewer than one-third of countries were classified as "difficult" to "very serious." The press freedom environment in seven-tenths was classified as "problematic" or worse.
Though there's a global downward trend, press freedom varies by region. Generally, the freest countries — including the top four: Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark — can be found in Europe, while journalists in parts of Africa and Asia face the harshest conditions.
Discrepancies within regions can also be pronounced. In Europe, for example, there's a strong divide between the Southern and Eastern regions, where challenges to press freedom are higher, and the Northern and Western regions, where countries are generally ranked as "satisfactory" to "good." Similarly, journalists in North Africa are, in general, less free than their counterparts in the Southern region of the continent.
Poland and Slovakia take different paths
One example of an interregional divide can be found in the heart of Europe: The press in Poland has become freer, while hostility toward the media is growing in Slovakia. Both countries are classified as "satisfactory," but they are trending in different directions
According to RSF, the turning point for Poland was a change in government. After the Law and Justice party (PiS), which opposed abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and pushed anti-migration policies, was ousted from power in late 2023, the new government toned down verbal attacks and judicial actions against the press.
An election that year also served as a turning point in Slovakia, where, after years in the opposition, Robert Fico began his fourth term as prime minister in 2023.
"He has a long career behind him, and it was always his narrative that journalists are his enemy," said Lukas Diko, the editor-in-chief of the Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak (ICJK), an independent news organization named after a journalist murdered during Fico's third term.
Kuciak had been investigating connections between organized crime groups and businesses in Slovakia that were linked to members of Fico's ruling party. Though Kuciak's killing led to a wave of anti-corruption protests that helped bring down Fico's government in 2018, Diko said attacks on the press had escalated since the prime minister returned to office.
"It's really without any rules," he said.
Diko said the fear caused by the murder of a young journalist and the hostile official rhetoric had discouraged people from careers in reporting.
"Not many young people want to become journalists anymore," he said. "The murder of Kuciak is still something that tells them not to do it — but they also don't want to be verbally attacked on a daily basis."
Attacks on press as a political strategy
Argentina is another country that has sharply dropped in the index. Media advocates say anti-press smear campaigns waged by President Javier Milei, whose hard-right policies favor financial freedoms above all others, have created a hostile climate for journalists. He often uses social media to attack critics, and claims that journalists are "not hated enough."
"When Milei insults a journalist, he is not doing that as Milei, the economist, or Milei, an ordinary citizen," said Fernando Stanich, the president of the Argentine press forum FOPEA, an organization that defends freedom of expression and promotes quality journalism. "He is doing that as the main representative of the Argentinian state. "
Stanich said previous Argentine governments had been hostile to the press — the Peronist Cristina Kirchner had frequently sparred with the media as president from 2007 to 2015 — but, according to FOPEA's monitoring, the current level of verbal attacks on journalists is unprecedented.
Like Argentina's Milei and Slovakia's Fico, US President Donald Trump has insulted and threatened the press since his first campaign for office in 2016. Coincidentally, the United States has also seen a significant drop in its standing in the World Press Freedom Ranking, along with other countries where leaders follow the same playbook — such as El Salvador.
Argentina, Slovakia and the United States show how quickly countries considered relatively stable and democratic can become hostile to journalists. The press has never been free in Eritrea, China, North Korea and Iran, which have long been ruled by authoritarian regimes that silence independent reporting.
According to the RSF report, "armed conflict is the primary reason for [the] decline in press freedom" in countries such as Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza following the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7, 2023, more than 220 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, including at least 70 while working, the report states.
Networks fight threats to press freedom
Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, a professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool, said societal threats to press freedom fell into three main categories. The use of political structures to intimidate or harm journalists, including verbal attacks by public officials and threats of violence and incarceration, is the most obvious indicator of press freedom in decline. But societal and economic factors, such as the targeting of journalists for their gender, race or sexual orientation and the pressures of a precarious media labor market, can also curtail press freedoms.
Slavtcheva-Petkova said journalists could fight such challenges by banding together, as well as by collaborating with organizations that share their values, including rights activists and academics.
"Knowing that there is somebody you can rely on for support is very important," Slavtcheva-Petkova said. "When journalists don't have that, when they don't know whom to turn to for help ... then they feel that what they're experiencing might even be their own fault."
With most journalists worldwide now working in conditions that are problematic at best, as the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index demonstrates, such networks are likely to take on increased importance in the coming years — both within countries and internationally. Only 17 countries improved their press freedom scores from 2013 to 2026; conditions in 163 got worse.
South Africa is one example of a country with robust networks to fight for press freedom. The country has maintained its "satisfactory" rating since 2013, resulting in a steady climb in the rankings as other nations' scores have slipped.
Glenda Daniels, a journalist and professor of media studies at Wits University in Johannesburg, said a strong civil society had helped South Africa maintain its status as press freedom declines globally. Despite challenges common to journalists across the world — including biases against and threats to women in the media and a shrinking labor market — Daniels said strong networks had helped preserve press freedom in South Africa.
Daniels herself serves as secretary-general of the South African National Editors’ Forum, which defends journalists' right to conduct their work. "SANEF is loud and noisy," she said. "It makes a difference to have a strong civil society approach, advocacy and activism."
Edited by: Gianna Grün and Milan Gagnon
All data, methodology and code behind this story can be found in this github repository. More data-driven stories by DW can be found on this page.
Rodrigo Menegat Schuinski Data journalist
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