RSF warns of economic pressures threatening press freedom worldwide

Mass media closures, the dominance of GAFAM, the stranglehold of billionaires... Economic pressures are threatening press freedom , warns Reporters Without Borders (RSF), pointing in particular to a "worrying deterioration" in the United States under Donald Trump. According to the NGO's annual ranking, published Friday on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, media and journalists are facing "problematic," "difficult," or "very serious" situations in three-quarters of the 180 countries assessed. "For the first time ," the situation is becoming "difficult" worldwide, underlines RSF, pointing in particular to the weight of economic constraints, illustrated by the American case.

Far from Norway, which topped the ranking for the ninth consecutive year, the United States fell two places to 57th, behind Sierra Leone. "The situation was already not good" in the country, which will fall ten places in 2024, concedes RSF editorial director Anne Bocandé. But it has worsened further since the inauguration in January of the American president, who has been responsible for "daily attacks" on the press. "Press freedom is no longer a given in the United States," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also noted earlier this week in a report on the first 100 days of Donald Trump's second term.

Also read : Media: 54 journalists killed worldwide in 2024, a third of them by Israel, according to RSF

The latter notably launched the dismantling of American public media abroad, such as Voice of America, depriving "more than 400 million people" of "access to reliable information" , according to the NGO. "The freezing of international aid funds" , via the American development agency USAID, has also "plunged hundreds of media outlets into critical economic instability" and forced some "to close, particularly in Ukraine" (62nd, -1 place). At the same time, "vast information deserts" are being created in the United States with the disappearance of many local titles facing financial difficulties. These "economic pressures" , less visible than physical abuses against journalists, constitute a "major obstacle" to press freedom, insists RSF.

"In nearly a third of the world's countries," including Tunisia (129th, -11) and Argentina (87th, -21), "news media outlets are closing regularly as a result of persistent economic difficulties ." Around thirty countries are also notable for "massive closures that have caused journalists to flee their homes in recent years," such as Nicaragua (172nd, -9) and Afghanistan (175th, +3). In Palestine (163rd, -6), the situation is "disastrous," according to RSF, which accuses the Israeli army of having "destroyed newsrooms and killed nearly 200 journalists," while "the lack of political stability" in Haiti (112th, -18) "is also plunging the media economy into chaos."

More generally, the sector's economy is "undermined" by GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft), whose platforms, "largely unregulated, capture a growing share of advertising revenue" and participate in "the proliferation of manipulated or misleading content" . Freedom of information is also "increasingly hampered by opaque or arbitrary financing conditions" , as in Hungary (68th, -1) where "the government is suffocating critical titles through the inequitable distribution of state advertising" . Even in "well-positioned" countries such as Finland (5th) or Australia (29th, +10), media concentration, "a threat to pluralism" , remains "a point of vigilance" .

Thus, in France (25th, -4), a "significant part of the national press is controlled by a few wealthy individuals," notes RSF, questioning "the real independence of editorial offices ." The situation of press freedom is described as "very serious" in 42 countries, seven of which are included in this category (Jordan, Hong Kong, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan). Eritrea remains in last place, behind North Korea and China. RSF produced this ranking based on "a quantitative survey of abuses committed against journalists" and "a qualitative study" among experts.