10 Jan 2014Thomson Reuters
World press freedom index – graphic of the day
The 2013 Press Freedom Index reflects the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term. Today’s graphic is a map showing which countries have the most and least press freedom, based on the results of the index published by Reporters Without Borders.
Ongoing political turmoil produced uneven conditions for press freedom in the Middle East in 2012, with Tunisia and Libya largely retaining their gains from 2011 even as Egypt slid backward into the Not Free category. The region as a whole experienced a net decline for the year, in keeping with a broader global pattern in which the percentage of people worldwide who enjoy a free media environment fell to its lowest point in more than a decade. Among the more disturbing developments in 2012 were dramatic declines for Mali, significant deterioration in Greece, and a further tightening of controls on press freedom in Latin America, punctuated by the decline of two countries, Ecuador and Paraguay, from Partly Free to Not Free status.
These were the most significant findings of Freedom of the Press 2013: A Global Survey of Media Independence, the latest edition of an annual index published by Freedom House since 1980. While there were positive developments in Burma, the Caucasus, parts of West Africa, and elsewhere, the dominant trends were reflected in setbacks in a range of political settings. Reasons for decline included the continued, increasingly sophisticated repression of independent journalism and new media by authoritarian regimes; the ripple effects of the European economic crisis and longer-term challenges to the financial sustainability of print media; and ongoing threats from nonstate actors such as radical Islamists and organized crime groups.
The trend of overall decline occurred, paradoxically, in a context of increasingly diverse news sources and ever-expanding means of political communication… more
This infographic highlights countries with notable developments for press freedom during the past year.To see a full-screen version of the infographic, click here.
Freedom of the Press 2013 Release Materials:
- Press Release
- Press Release (Arabic)
- Full Release Booklet
- Overview Essay
- Global and Regional Rankings
- Charts and Graphs
- Maps
- Methodology
- Infographic
Freedom of the Press 2013 Draft Country Reports: