Dismal ranking of press freedom by country: it falls to a global low

BarcelonaThe red stain is spreading on the map compiled annually by the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which measures the health of journalism by country. For the first time, in more than half of the countries, the conditions for practicing journalism are "poor." And the trend is worrying: in six out of ten countries, the score for press freedom has declined. Currently, these conditions are only "satisfactory" in less than one in four territories. Spain is one of the few exceptions to the rule and has improved its score, moving up seven positions on the list, from 30th to 23rd.

This increase is explained by two factors. First, by the improvements experienced in some of the indicators, such as those measuring the political framework, the legal framework, the sociocultural context, and the safety of journalists. In fact, the only indicator that has suffered a decline is the economic indicator. From there, Spain's score only improves from 76.01 to 77.35, but in a context of severe global setbacks—and this is the second factor—a small increase is enough to propel it to the top of the rankings.

Nevertheless, the organization points out that legal and judicial pressures or abusive lawsuits "remain a growing vulnerability" in Spain. And it expresses concern about the impact of precariousness: "The economic indicator has traditionally weighed down Spain's position in the global rankings, and this year is no exception," RSF explains in a press release. In fact, in this aspect, it has dropped again, obtaining only a score of 58.10, well below other evaluation criteria such as "safety of journalists" (91.50) or the political indicator (the second lowest, at 72.46). "Although Spain is one of the handful of democracies where journalism is practiced freely, the profession lives in a situation of intolerable chronic precariousness," says Edith Rodríguez Cachera, vice president of Reporters Without Borders in Spain. "And a precarious journalist is always a journalist more vulnerable to pressure and self-censorship."

The invisible gag of money

One of the report's conclusions is that financial strangulation is dangerously weakening the media sector. While physical attacks are the most visible aspect of press freedom violations, economic pressure can achieve similar silencing effects, but more discreetly. According to RSF, "the economic indicator [of the five used to determine each country's score] continues to fall in 2025 and reaches an unprecedented critical level."

In this regard, Anne Bocandé, president of the organization, states: "Guaranteeing a plural, free, and independent media space requires stable and transparent economic conditions. Without financial independence, there is no free press. When media outlets are financially fragile, they are forced into a race for audiences that, at the expense of quality, can become exploitative."

The best and the worst

Norway repeats its lead in the ranking for another year, but there are changes in the silver and bronze positions, occupied by Estonia and the Netherlands, displacing Denmark and Sweden, respectively. Only seven countries score more than 85 points out of 100. Last year, there were eight. At the bottom, Eritrea occupies 180th place, North Korea 179th, and China 178th. Some significant declines include Israel, which drops from 101st to 171st. Nicaragua, where media closures have triggered the exile of journalists (dropping nine places to 172nd), and Sudan (from 149th to 156th). But the ranking also drops in places that used to be fertile for journalism. This is the case in the United States, which has dropped two places to 57th. The organization highlights that the economic indicator has lost fourteen points in two years and that large regions of the country are becoming information deserts, in a place where the local press had played a very important backbone.