We claim to live in a free world, but sadly this is not the case.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the creators behind the World Press Freedom Index, have found that this year, for the first time in the Index’s 25-year history, more than half of all nations globally now fall into the ‘difficult’ or ‘very serious’ category.
Governments across the world are finding loopholes in the law to silence journalists and evade punishment. Whether it’s blocking access to news sites or harassing media outlets, censorship is worryingly abundant.
Journalism Pitted Against Patriotism
Censorship is defined as someone or something, usually governments, suppressing forms of media, such as books, films and access to the internet. This is a common tactic used by authoritarian regimes to remain in control. One recent example is Cambodia. Before Cambodia’s last general election, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered that access to fifteen news sites be blocked. Presently, the Cambodian People’s Party holds all parliamentary seats.
The RSF ranks China, North Korea and Eritrea, where journalist Dawit Isaak has been detained in jail without trial for the last 25 years, as countries with the least press freedom in the world. We can see how China, in particular, exerts its influence over future reporters before they even enter the profession. Journalism students have to take an exam in order to earn their press card. However, these examinations do not simply test pupils’ knowledge of the industry. They are also tested on party ideology, echoing Xi Jinping’s instructions to reporters to ‘love and protect the Communist Party.’
Other countries have followed suit. For example, when Hasina Sheikh was Prime Minister of Bangladesh, she routinely made speeches urging the media not to publish stories that ‘tarnish’ the country’s image and to focus on ‘constructive criticism’ to avoid ‘corrective action’ from the government.
Sheikh was right to some extent. Journalists do have a duty to their country. But that duty is to speak the truth and shed light on matters of public interest, especially when it comes to holding powerful people accountable for their misdemeanours. Instead of tackling the root cause of corruption, Sheikh tried to blame journalists for reporting on controversial issues by branding them unpatriotic.
Legal Intimidation
This is an increasingly common tactic used by leaders across the world, in both developed and developing nations. Draconian laws with the intent of silencing criticism are commonplace. In Turkey, it is a crime to insult the president (and that includes unfavourable media coverage). In Burundi, journalist Sandra Muhoza has recently been prosecuted for ‘undermining the national territory.’ And in Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment under the city’s national security law.
RSF notes that out of the five indicators it uses to assess press freedom, the legal indicator, which measures whether journalists are protected by the law, has seen the sharpest decline in 2026. This, it says, is because of the prevalence of SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) — when a company, government or wealthy individual baselessly sues a media organisation in order to intimidate or bankrupt it. In Europe, which is a haven for press freedom, most courts have the power to quash such malicious lawsuits. But other continents have no such protections.
The RSF particularly highlights the plight of Guatemalan anti-corruption media tycoon José Rubén Zamora, who has been trapped in unresolved legal proceedings since 2022. But other journalists are suffering too, including Omar Radi and Soulaimane Raissouni, who face politically motivated charges of sexual assault after exposing corrupt land sales in Morocco, and Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who were imprisoned in 2022 for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini. Their trials have been described by the International Press Institute as ‘a mockery of justice.’
The American Nightmare
One of the most worrying trends of 2026 is how much censorship has risen across the Americas, particularly in the United States, which has fallen seven places in the World Press Freedom rankings.
Under the current administration, the curtailing of press freedom has spiralled over the past year. The first major incident that sent shockwaves through the American media was when the president banned AP from the White House in February of last year. All because the organisation refused to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its reporting. AP are still fighting to have their press passes reinstated. Then in September 2025, the Pentagon declared that journalists could be barred if they publish information that has not been pre-approved, which essentially amounts to state censorship.
Just one month later, Trump was making headlines for calling a reporter ‘Piggy’ when she questioned him on his relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And just recently, the president banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from the White House because of the baseless accusation that they are ‘constant[ly] reporting fake news.’ Fake news, as you probably already know, has become Trump’s codeword for negative media coverage. Thankfully, this was recognised as a breach of America’s First Amendment rights, and the journalists affected have since had their press passes reinstated. But the incident has shown that even in America, the supposed land of the free, the ‘free’ press is routinely being undermined.
Trump has made no apologies for his behaviour. Just days ago, he was on the attack again, claiming that ‘Artificial Media Outlets’ who reported that several seats at his last rally were empty ‘should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country.’
Free Press at Home?
Now, the UK can hardly be described as a censorship regime. In fact, it has one of the most free presses in the world. But you cannot help but hear an echo of Trump and Sheikh’s words when recalling how Boris Johnson derided the BBC as the ‘Brexit Bashing Corporation’ whilst cutting funding for its services. And just last month, journalists from Declassified UK were again denied access to the Labour Party Conference, a move which MPs described as ‘Trump-like.’
We cannot allow ourselves to backslide on the progress made. A free press is fundamental to any democracy. Journalism serves as society’s watchdog, but reporters across the globe routinely find themselves being prosecuted.
Their crime? Speaking the truth.
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