World Press Freedom Index 2020
The
Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by
Reporters Without Borders based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries'
press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and ci
tizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom. Reporters Without Borders is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism nor does it look at human rights violations in general.
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1. Norway 7.84
2. Finland 7.93
3. Denmark 8.13
4. Sweden 9.25
5. Netherlands 9.96
6. Jamaica 10.51
7. Costa Rica 10.53
8. Switzerland 10.62
9. New Zealand 10.69
10. Portugal 11.83
11. Germany 12.16
12. Belgium 12.57
13. Ireland 12.60
14. Estonia 12.61
15. Iceland 15.12
16. Canada 15.29
17. Luxembourg 15.46
18. Austria 15.78
19. Uruguay 15.79
20. Suriname 17.50
21. Samoa 18.25
22. Latvia 18.56
23. Namibia 19.25
24. Liechtenstein 19.52
25. Cabo Verde 20.15
26. Australia 20.21
27. Cyprus 20.45
28. Lithuania 21.1
29; Spain 22.16
30. Ghana 22.26
31. South Africa 22.41
32. Slovenia 22.64
33. Slovakia 22.67
34. France 22.92
35. United Kingdom 22.93
36. Trinidad and Tobago 23.22
37. Andorra 23.23
38. Burkina Faso 23.47
39. Botswana 23.56
40. Czech Republic 23.57
41. Italy 23.69
42. South Korea 23.70
43. Taiwan 23.76
44. OECS 23.7
45. United States 23.85
https://rsf.org/en/ranking
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Trump-era Hostility Toward Press Persists
Press freedom in the United States continued to suffer during President
Donald Trump’s third year in office.
Arrests, physical assaults, public denigration and the harassment of journalists continued in 2019, though the numbers of journalists arrested and assaulted were slightly lower than the year prior.
Much of that ire has come from President Trump and his associates in the federal government, who have demonstrated the United States is no longer a champion of press freedom at home or abroad.
This dangerous anti-press sentiment has trickled down to local governments, institutions and the American public.
In March 2019, a leaked document revealed the US government was using a secret database tracking journalists, activists and others who border authorities believed should be stopped for questioning when crossing certain checkpoints along the US-Mexico border.
A couple months later, the Justice Department charged Wikileaks co-founder
Julian Assange with 17 counts of the WWI-era Espionage Act.
If he is convicted, this would set a dangerous precedent for journalists who publish classified US government information of public interest moving forward.
Under President Trump, the White House has strategically replaced traditional forms of press access with those that limit the ability of journalists to ask questions of the administration.
The last daily, televised White House press briefing led by a press secretary took place in March 2019, and since then the federal government has made multiple attempts to deny specific journalists and news outlets access to other opportunities for press engagement.