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Freedom House is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy and human rights around the world. It publishes reports and analysis on media freedom, online freedom, and the challenges for journalists and activists in various countries and regions.
- Media Freedom: A Downward Spiral
Social media dramatically expand access to information and...
- Media Freedom: A Downward Spiral
Jun 4, 2024 · Media freedom is the right of various kinds of mass media and sources of communication to operate in political and civil society. Learn about the importance, threats, and issues of media freedom from Britannica's experts.
Compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories in 2021. See the global score, the top 10 and the bottom 10 countries, and the methodology used by RSF.
- What Is It?
- What Does It Measure?
- The Global Indicator and Regional Indicators
- How The Index Is Compiled
- The Questionnaire
- The Data on Abuses
- The Press Freedom Map
Published every year since 2002 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the World Press Freedom Index is an important advocacy tool based on the principle of emulation between states. Because it is well known, its influence over governments is growing. Many heads of state and government fear its annual publication. 2002 Year of the first edition of the...
The Indexranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists. It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country and region. It does not rank public policies even if governmen...
Along with the Index, RSF calculates a global indicator and regional indicators that evaluate the overall performance of countries and regions (in the world and in each region) as regards media freedom. It is an absolute measure that complements the Index’s comparative rankings. The global indicator is the average of the regional indicators, each o...
The degree of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries and regions is determined by pooling the responses of experts to a questionnaire devised by RSF. This qualitative analysis is combined with quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated. The criteria used in the questionnaire are plura...
To compile the Index, RSF has developed an online questionnaire focusing on the subjects specified above. This year’s questionnaire was slightly less detailed that in the past but, thanks to statistical analysis, the data gathered continued to permit comparison with previous years. Translated into20 languagesincluding English, Arabic, Chinese, Russ...
A team of in-house specialists, each assigned to a different geographical region, keeps a detailed tally of abuses and violence against journalists and media outlets. These reasearchers also rely on a network of correspondents in 130 countries. The Abuses indicator for each country is calculated on the basis of the data about the intensity of abuse...
The press freedom map, which is distributed in print and digital versions, offers a visual overview of the sitution in each country and region in the Index. The colour categories are assigned as follows: good (white), fairly good (yellow), problematic (orange), bad (red) and very bad (black).
Social media dramatically expand access to information and freedom of expression, and in repressive and troubled countries they remain a lifeline to journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens attempting to exercise their democratic rights.
The newly released UNESCO World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2021/2022 analyses the state of media freedom, pluralism, independence, and safety of journalists over the past five years.
Jul 8, 2022 · Targeted electronic surveillance to intimidate and silence investigative journalism. This is the dangerous reality for many journalists around the world as media freedom and safety have diminished in the digital age with a grave impact on human rights, democracy and development, a UN expert warned.
