Reporters Without Borders warned in its annual classification issued Thursday that press freedom in the world has reached its lowest level in a quarter of a century, noting a general decline, starting with the United States, where the press is “systematically” targeted, and the European Union with the Media Freedom Law that entered into force in 2025, all the way to Saudi Arabia, which executed a journalist in 2025, at a time when it noted that Syria achieved progress after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. For the first time since the classification began in 2002, more than half of the world's countries fall within the region where the situation is described as difficult or dangerous.

Published on: 04/30/2026 - 10:36

On Thursday, Reporters Without Borders issued its annual classification of the state of the press, warning that freedom of the press in the world had reached its lowest level in a quarter of a century. The organization’s annual classification indicated a general decline, especially in the United States, where the press was “systematically” targeted, in addition to Saudi Arabia, which executed journalist and writer Turki Al-Jassam in 2025, while it noted that Syria had achieved progress after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The organization, which adopts a five-level scale from “very serious” to “good,” said: “For the first time in the history of this annual classification, which began in 2002, more than half of the world’s countries now fall within the region where the situation is described as difficult or dangerous, while in 2002 this region was limited to a small minority (13.7 percent).”

Historical decline in indicators

Reporters Without Borders notes that “the proportion of the world’s population living in countries where journalism is considered good has fallen from 20 percent in 2002 to less than one percent.” Only seven countries from Northern Europe fall into this category, led by Norway. France ranked twenty-fifth in the “fairly good condition” category.

"For the first time in a quarter of a century, the average overall score of the countries included in the evaluation has never fallen so low," the organization said.

Read also: Reporters Without Borders: 67 journalists were killed in a year, nearly half of them in the Gaza Strip

The United States... “systematic” targeting of the press

As for the United States, whose rating had originally dropped from “somewhat good condition” to “problematic condition” in 2024, that is, in the year Donald Trump is re-elected as president, it fell seven places to rank sixty-fourth. The report found that “Trump has made targeting the press and attacking journalists a systematic practice,” noting also the detention and deportation of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was denouncing the arrest of immigrants.

The classification also highlighted “the radical reduction in the number of employees of the US Agency for Global Media, and the resulting negative repercussions at the international level, through the closure of media institutions, suspension of their activities, or layoffs of their employees.”

Read also: The New York Times sues the US Department of Defense over restrictions on the press

Multiple pressures on journalists

"Attacks on journalists are changing. There are still journalists being killed, and there are still journalists in prison, but the pressures have also become economic, political and legal," Reporters Without Borders' editorial director, Anne Bocendé, told Agence France-Presse.

While this decline is attributed to armed conflicts, the organization also pointed to the hardening of political regimes in recent years. She pointed out that El Salvador (ranked 143) has fallen by 105 places since 2014 and the beginning of the war against gangs, and Georgia (ranked 135) has fallen by about 75 places since 2020 due to “the acceleration of the pace of repression in recent years.”

The African coast and Saudi Arabia are at the bottom of the ranking

As for the largest decline in the 2026 classification, it was recorded in Niger (ranked 120), which, according to the organization, embodies “the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel region over several years,” between “attacks launched by armed groups on the one hand and the repression imposed by various successive military councils on the other hand.”

“Some countries were at the forefront in the field of press freedom, but they deteriorated profoundly when military regimes came to power, as is the case in Mali (ranked 121) or Burkina Faso (ranked 110),” Bocande said.

Saudi Arabia fell 14 places and was ranked 176th, and the report recalled the execution of writer Turki Al-Jasser in June 2025, describing it as a “unique incident in the world.” Also at the bottom of the ranking are Russia, Iran, China and Eritrea.

Syria's progress and malicious claims

On the other hand, Syria (ranked 141) advanced 36 places after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to the organization.

Of the five indicators adopted by the organization to measure the state of press freedom in the world (economic, legal, security, political, and social), the legal indicator is the lowest this year. “National security laws, such as anti-terrorism laws or those protecting national security secrets, are increasingly restricting the scope of journalistic work,” Bocandy said, adding that “Russia is at the forefront, but the impact is also felt in democratic countries.”

The organization's report also noted a "high frequency of malicious lawsuits," that is, lawsuits related to defamation, economic abuse, or spreading false news, which aim to intimidate journalists. This global phenomenon was demonstrated in Guatemala through the case of the founder of the newspaper "El Periodico", José Rubén Zamora, who was sentenced to many years in prison after his investigations into political corruption cases. But Reporters Without Borders also denounced this trend in France in a recent study of local media.

Bokandi pointed out that “laws are increasingly criminalizing journalists, while they are supposed to protect them,” pointing to “tools” that can be resorted to, including the European Commission’s law on freedom of the media, which entered into force in 2025, and the European Directive against malicious claims.

France 24/AFP

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