The World Press Freedom Index, which assessed 180 countries, finds established journalism is ‘being asphyxiated’
Press freedom around the world is at its lowest ebb in a generation, according to an influential annual index that highlights growing authoritarian pressure on the media.
The average score for the 180 countries assessed by the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), was the lowest in the index’s 25-year history.
For the first time, more than half of all countries were placed in the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom.
While a fifth of the global population lived in a country where press freedom was categorised as “good” in 2002, that has now fallen to less than 1% of the world’s population.
