Press Freedom Hits Quarter-Century Low Amid Global Decline

Paris, France: Press freedom has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, Reporters Without Borders warned on Thursday. The media rights watchdog cited as examples US President Donald Trump's "systematic" attacks on journalists and Saudi Arabia, which executed a journalist in 2025. "For the first time in the (RSF) Index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," a statement said. "The average score for all countries and territories worldwide has never been so low," it said. At the same time, the share of the world's population living in a country where the press freedom situation is considered "good" has plunged from 20 percent to less than one percent. Only seven countries in Northern Europe, led by Norway, fall into this category. The United States, which had already fallen from a "fairly good" to a "problematic" situation in 2024, the year of Donald Trump’s re-election, has dropped a further seven places to 64, it said. Beyond Trump's attacks on the press —- "a systematic policy" -- the situation in the United States has also been marked by the detention and subsequent expulsion of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who denounced the arrest of migrants, and by drastic cuts to funding for US international broadcasting, the report said.