World Press Freedom Index 2024 – Journalism under political pressures

The freedom of the press around the world is threatened by the very people who should be its guarantors – the political authorities. This is evidenced by the latest annual World Press Freedom Index, prepared by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

A growing number of governments are not fulfilling their role as guarantors for journalism to be a reliable and independent source of information. This often occurs together with hostile actions that undermine the role of the media and attempts to use the press as tools in a campaign of harassment or disinformation.

Wars and elections are the most dangerous events for journalists, where they are most often killed or arrested.

Many governments have tightened their control over social media and the Internet, restricting access, blocking accounts, and suppressing messages carrying news and information.

Politicians themselves are often engaged in propaganda or disinformation campaigns.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the media censorship has increased, imitating Russian repressive methods, especially in Belarus (167th place), Georgia (103rd), Kyrgyzstan (120th) and Azerbaijan (164th place – 13 points below 2023).

Note that the overall decline in the political index also affected the three leaders of the world press freedom index. Norway, still in first place, showed a drop in its political rating, and Ireland (8th place), where politicians subjected the media to judicial intimidation, lost its leading position in the European Union to Denmark (2nd place), followed by Sweden. (3rd place).

In the lowest positions are China (172), Bahrain (173), Vietnam (174), Turkmenistan (175), Iran (176), North Korea (177), Afghanistan (178), Syria (179).