WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2026 SEES US RANKING PLUMMET TO AN ABYSMAL #64
To be honest, I barely remember that 2002 was the inaugural year for the RSF World Press Freedom Index. If you’re not familiar, this is the index that considers a variety of factors to establish just how free any country’s local press is to actually report the news. It’s an important measurement to understand the stability of any country, the general direction that country is headed in, and whether or not that country’s citizens are accurately and timely informed with facts and context. Unfortunately, the US ranking this year is an abysmal #64 out of 180 countries on the list. That’s right, the supposed leader of the free world is out of the top third for press freedom, just as we’re on the cusp of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow.
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The variety of factors used to measure press freedom ranking are: political context (gov’t support of media freedom, dissent tolerance, public media independence), legal framework (assessment of legislation around journalism, impunity for crimes against journalists, censorship), economic context (looks at economic pressures, concentration of media ownership, gov’t influence over advertising and/or subsidies), sociocultural context (an analysis of any constraints by social, religious or idealogical pressures, which includes any harassment of journalists), and journalist safety (the tracking of violence, surveillance, imprisonment and physical attacks against member of the media). You’d think the US would be doing better than #64, but those days are over.
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US Ranking Plummets On Cusp of World Press Freedom Day
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So where did America used to be when it comes to press freedom? Back in the first year, 2002, the US was ranked #17, which was that low primarily due to media consolidation. Boy, were those the good old days! But the US started slipping in the early 200 teens, which introduced the “war on whistleblowers,” surveillance and the lack of a federal shield law. But then in 2015-16, the US dropped into the 40’s, mostly due to how police were interacting with journalists covering protests. 2017-20 knocked the US into the 50’s, because of political rhetoric against the media and “institutional attacks.” But with Trump 2.0, the US dropped quickly to #57 in 2025, and this year the plummet continues with an abysmal #64.
Some food for thought on American democracy, or the lack thereof, on World Press Freedom Day. You can see the list here from Reporters Without Borders, Hey, at least we’re still ahead of Russia?
