RSF Releases 2025 World Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual World Press Freedom Index today. Although physical attacks against journalists are the most visible violations of press freedom, economic pressure is also a major, more insidious problem. The global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the Index.

At a time when press freedom is experiencing a worrying decline in many parts of the world, a major — yet often underestimated — factor is seriously weakening the media: economic pressure. Much of this is due to ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, and public aid that is restricted, absent or allocated in an opaque manner. The data measured by the RSF Index’s economic indicator clearly shows that today’s news media are caught between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival.

“Guaranteeing freedom, independence and plurality in today’s media landscape requires stable and transparent financial conditions. Without economic independence, there can be no free press. When news media are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audiences at the expense of quality reporting, and can fall prey to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them."

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Anne Bocandé
RSF Editorial Director

Of the five main indicators that determine the World Press Freedom Index, the indicator measuring the financial conditions of journalism and economic pressure on the industry dragged down the world’s overall score in 2025.

The economic indicator in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index is at its lowest point in history, and the global situation is now considered “difficult.”

The ongoing wave of media shutdowns

• According to data collected by RSF for the 2025 Index, in 160 out of the 180 countries assessed, media outlets achieve financial stability “with difficulty” — or “not at all.”
• Worse, news outlets are shutting down due to economic hardship in nearly a third of countries globally. This is the case in the United States (57th, down 2 places) Tunisia (129th, down 11 places) and Argentina (87th, down 21 places).
• The situation in Palestine (163rd) is disastrous. In Gaza, the Israeli army has destroyed newsrooms, killed nearly 200 journalists and imposed a total blockade on the strip for over 18 months. In Haiti (112th, down 18 places), the lack of political stability has also plunged the media economy into chaos.

The United States: leader of the economic depression

In the United States, where the economic indicator has dropped by more than 14 points in two years, vast regions are turning into news deserts. Local journalism is bearing the brunt of the economic downturn: more than 60% of journalists and media experts surveyed by RSF in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania agree that it is “difficult to earn a living wage as a journalist,” and 75% believe that “the average media outlet struggles for economic viability.” The country’s 28-place drop in the social indicator reveals that the press operates in an increasingly hostile environment.

President Donald Trump’s second term has already intensified this trend as false economic pretexts are used to bring the press into line. This led to the abrupt end to funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which affected several newsrooms — including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — and, as a result, over 400 million citizens worldwide were suddenly deprived of access to reliable information. Similarly, the freeze on funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) halted US international aid, throwing hundreds of news outlets into a critical state of economic instability and forcing some to shut down — particularly in Ukraine (62nd).

Read the report here: https://rsf.org/en/rsf-world-press-freedom-index-2025-economic-fragility-leading-threat-press-freedom

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