Press freedom at its lowest level in 25 years worldwide, according to RSF

This is not going to get better with Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Press freedom has reached its lowest level in a quarter of a century, Reporters Without Borders warned this Thursday, pointing to a general deterioration, from the United States where Donald Trump’s attacks are “systematic” to Saudi Arabia, which has executed a journalist in 2025.

“For the first time in the history†of this annual ranking created in 2002, “more than half of the world’s countries (94) are in a “difficult†or “very serious†situation, whereas they were only a tiny minority (13.7%) in 2002,” writes RSF, which has five levels on its scale, from “very serious” to “good.”

France ranks 25th, the United States loses 7 places

The rate of people living in a country where the press freedom situation is “good” has plunged from 20% to “less than 1%”.

Only seven countries in northern Europe, led by Norway, are in this category. France ranks 25th (“rather good situation”). “In twenty-five years, the average score of all the countries studied has never been so low,” adds the organization.

The United States, in a “problematic situation”, lost seven places and is 64th, between Botswana and Panama. Beyond the attacks by the Republican president against the press, “a systematic practice”, this also resulted in the detention and then expulsion of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who denounced the arrests of migrants in the United States, or the drastic reduction in funding for American outdoor broadcasting.

Added to assassinations and imprisonments are political and economic pressures

“Attacks against journalists are changing. There are always journalists murdered, always journalists in prison, but the pressures are also economic, political, legal,” underlines Anne Bocandé, editorial director of RSF. If the decline is explained by armed conflicts, the organization also points to the hardening of political regimes in recent years.

RSF highlights the spectacular falls of El Salvador (143rd), which has lost 105 places since 2014 and the launch of a war against the Maras criminal gangs, or Georgia (135th), which has fallen 75 places since 2020 due to an “acceleration of repression”.

The biggest drop in 2026 is attributed to Niger (120th, -37 places), symbol of “the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel for several years”, between “attacks by armed groups and (the) juntas in power”, writes RSF.

Some jewels of press freedom are tumbling

“Certain countries were flagships of press freedom but it has deteriorated profoundly with the arrival of military regimes like in Mali (121st) or Burkina Faso (110th),” adds Anne Bocandé.

Saudi Arabia (176th, -14 places), where the columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed in June by the State, “a unique event in the world”, rubs shoulders with Russia, Iran and China at the very end of the ranking, closed by Eritrea (180th). On the other hand, Syria (141st) jumped 36 places after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

The multiplication of SLAPP procedures

Among RSF’s five measurement criteria, it is the legal framework indicator that has deteriorated the most in 2025. “National security laws, against terrorism for example, or to protect defense secrets, increasingly restrict the field of journalism. Russia is a champion in this area, but the impact is also felt even in democracies,” underlines Anne Bocandé.

Another weapon, that of “SLAPP procedures”, in other words legal proceedings for defamation, economic denigration or dissemination of false news, which aim to intimidate journalists.

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A global phenomenon, illustrated in Guatemala by the case of the founder of El Periodico, José Rubén Zamora, sentenced to several years in prison after his investigations into political corruption. But RSF also denounced this trend in France in a recent study on local media. “Laws are increasingly criminalizing journalists, when they should be protecting them,” notes the editorial director of the organization.

Nevertheless, “tools exist,” she adds, citing the European Commission regulation on freedom in the media (“European media freedom act”), which came into force in 2025, or the European directive against SLAPP procedures.