Press freedom is at a 25-year low according to the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This group creates an annual report on how free the media is worldwide. It said press freedom was "problematic" or worse in three quarters of the 180 nations it looked at. In over half of the world, conditions were "difficult" to "very serious". This was a third in 2013. The RSF said conditions were "good" in seven countries. These were all in Europe.

The RSF report says there is growing political pressure on the press. It said there was an "alarming" worsening in the conditions for journalists in many countries. The report stated that there was a "systematic policy" of attacks on journalists in the USA. It also said that in Russia, laws designed to fight terrorism and extremism were used to limit press freedom. Sixty-seven journalists were killed worldwide in 2025.