Press freedom hits its lowest level in 25 years
The media rights watchdog cited US President Donald Trump’s “systematic” attacks on journalists and Saudi Arabia, which executed a journalist in 2025, as examples.
“For the first time in the (RSF) Index’s 25-year history, more than half of the world’s countries now fall into the ‘difficult’ or ‘very serious’ categories for press freedom,” the statement said. The statement was included.
“The average score for all countries and regions around the world has never been lower,” he said.
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At the same time, the share of the world’s population living in a country whose press freedom situation is considered “good” has fallen from 20 percent to less than 1 percent.
Only seven countries in Northern Europe, led by Norway, fall into this category. It was stated that the USA, which had already fallen from a “fairly good” situation to a “problematic” situation in 2024, when Donald Trump was re-elected, dropped another seven places to 64th.
Beyond Trump’s attacks on the press, which is a “systematic policy”, the situation in the US is marked by the arrest and subsequent deportation of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who condemned the detention of immigrants, and serious cuts to the US international broadcasting fund, the report said.
“Vladimir Putin’s Russia (172nd) has become an expert in using laws designed to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism to restrict press freedom,” RSF reported. he warned.
“As of April 2026, 48 journalists were being held behind bars in the country”.
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The sharpest decline in 2026 was in junta-led Niger (down 37 places to 120th); “This underlines the wider decline in press freedom in the Sahel region in recent years as armed groups and ruling juntas suppress the right to balanced information from a variety of sources.”
