Europe has the freest media on the earth in response to Reporters With out Borders’ annual press freedom rating — although Southern and Japanese Europe are lagging behind the remainder of the continent and the world total is struggling.
The RSF World Press Freedom Index launched its yearly report and map on Friday, and it’s significantly excellent news for journalists within the Nordics and Baltics.
The highest 15 international locations had been all in Europe, with Norway scoring the very best, adopted by Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Norway regularly tops press freedom rankings, with strong authorized protections and a thriving media market.
France (25) and Italy (49) each dropped a number of locations in comparison with 2024, whereas the UK (20) improved barely and Poland (31) leaped greater than a dozen spots.
Greece recorded the worst consequence within the European Union for the fourth yr in a row, coming in at 89. The principle causes for its lackluster rating embody wiretapping of journalists by intelligence companies utilizing Predator adware, authorities interference, intimidatory lawsuits and insufficient authorized guardrails.
Its Balkan neighbors additionally fared poorly, with Croatia (60), Bosnia (86), Serbia (96) and Kosovo (99) all among the many worst in Europe.
For the primary time because the index’s inception in 2002, the common rating out of 100 fell beneath 55, with journalism circumstances categorized as “tough” or “very severe” in additional than half of all international locations assessed. RSF cited financial instability and media focus as components contributing to a worsening press freedom local weather.
Within the Center East, dozens of reporters have been killed throughout Israel’s navy assault in Gaza, the group stated. Iran, Syria, China, North Korea and Eritrea had been ranked the 5 worst international locations on the earth to be a journalist, with non-existent press freedom.
America fell two locations to 57. President Donald Trump’s administration is bringing a few “troubling deterioration” via funding cuts to public media and international support, RSF added.