Global freedom of press reaches low point, according to World Press Freedom Index

The global freedom of the press has reached the lowest level since Reporters Without Borders (RSF) started in 2002 with its annual ranking of global freedom of the press, the World Press Freedom Index. That is what the Dutch Free Press Unlimited writes this Friday in a press release. For the annual ranking, RSF compares the degree of freedom of the press in 180 countries and areas, and assesses, among other things, the influence of political pressure, the social tolerance and the safety of journalists.

Countries get a score between 0 and 100 (the highest possible level of freedom of the press), based on two components: the number of incidents with regard to media and journalists in such a country and a survey that is conducted among journalists, academics and human rights defenders in every country. For the first time since 2002, the average of all those scores ended up in the ‘difficult’ category, the penultimate of the five categories that the index counts.

That was not the only low point that was reached last year. 2024 was also for journalists deadliest year in three decades. In areas such as Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo, reporters run great risks. During their reporting they are often in danger and they are increasingly targeted attacks. A total of at least 124 journalists and media professionals were killed in 2024. Almost two thirds of them were Palestinians, they were killed by Israeli attacks.

Slack

There are also other developments that threaten the freedom of the press. One is the advance From so-called Slapp Affairs,,  » Strategic Lawsuits Against public participation, writes free press unlimited. This type of matters, often brought by powerful companies and individuals, aims to intimidate or even silence the accused, by incorporating or threatening expensive legal proceedings and demanding disproportionate financial reimbursements.

Out Recent research The coalition against Slapps in Europe (Case), a collaboration of more than a hundred social organizations that have had to deal with this type of lawsuits in recent years, it appears that in 2023 a total of 166 Slapp cases were filed in Europe. Five years earlier it was still 86 things.

Media organizations also have to deal with increasing financial pressure to keep their heads above water. An important cause is the sudden stopping American support for international media projectssays Ruth Kronenburg, director of Free Press Unlimited.

Since he took office in January, US President Donald Trump has frozen more than 268 million dollars that the American aid organization USAID paid annually to support independent media throughout the world. « The freezing of American aid fees has led to a calculation in independent information provision, » says Kronenburg. The subsidy For Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, for example, it was stopped, but after the media organization had sued the US government, the order to stop the subsidy was withdrawn.

Disinformation

Free Press Unlimited also sees a threat to the free press in the explosive growth of disinformation. Desinformation is the deliberate distribution of false or incomplete information. « Because disinformation spreads at lightning speed, and everyone can publish information via social media, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to distinguish the fact from fiction, » says Kronenburg. « This undermines confidence in independent media. »

According to the Dutch interest group, the time that disinformation was primarily a problem in authoritarian governed countries is long gone. Kronenburg mentions the large -scale disinformation around the German elections as an example.

The annual ranking also has good news: the Netherlands is in third place this year, a place higher than last year. Only Norway and Estonia score higher. Sweden and Finland complete the top five.

The rise in the Netherlands has partly to do with « important steps against impunity, » the report says. For example, in the case of the murder of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, six suspects were convicted in 2024. Another suspect, who was stuck in Curaao, was transferred to the Netherlands in mid -April.

Nevertheless, the number of incidents against journalists is also increasing in the Netherlands: in 2024 Registered Press Safe 249 Reported Incidentslargely cases of intimidation and physical violence, compared to 218 in 2023 and 198 in 2022.

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