The global state of the freedom of the press | Explained

World Press Freedom Day 2025: A detailed look at global press freedom rankings, challenges, and the state of journalism worldwide.

On May 3, 2025 the world marked Press Freedom Day, an event that seeks to honour, and reinforce, the commitment of nations to a free and robust media. Just a day before, on May 2, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières- RSF) released the Press Freedom Index, its annual ranking of the status of journalistic freedom in 180 countries worldwide. While Norway tops the chart, Eritrea, under a dictatorship, scores the lowest rank. India places at a dismal 151. Another indicator— the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded that 103 journalists were killed in 2024; 15 have already died globally as of April 2025.

Also Read: Why is May 3 observed as World Press Freedom Day?

The journalist, whether today or historically, stares down polarised political environments, war, and an easily distracted public. Hostile governments and legal strictures further complicate a profession already widely cited to be at risk. As the world sees a tilt in the authoritarian direction, media is one of the spaces where the political war plays out. Further, with conditions and challenges varying by country, the state of the press often serves as a bellwether for the state of freedom in general.

How are countries treating their press? We take a detailed look.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following a recommendation to this effect in UNESCO’s General Conference. The day picked for the purpose was May 3— the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, made in 1992 at a UNESCO seminar held in Windhoek, Namibia.

The day serves as a reminder to governments to respect their commitment to a free press. Since 1997, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is also formally awarded on this day. It is named for Guillermo Cano Isaza, the founder of Colombian newspaper El Espectador who was assassinated in front of its offices in Bogotá on December 17, 1986.

This year’s prize was awarded to Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa- El Diario de los Nicaragüenses, which has operated in exile since 2021. Founded in 1926 in Managua, the newspaper weathered repression and confiscation of its assets in Nicargua, as well as the arrest of its leaders, to continue reporting about conditions in its home country from locations abroad.