Press freedom is not just a fundamental pillar of democracy, but a measure of its vitality. The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) organization compared the 2024 World Press Freedom Index and The Economist’s annual Democracy Index.
The correlation between democracy and press freedom is obvious – and proven. A comparison of the assessments of 167 countries made by RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index and The Economist’s annual Democracy Index shows the two values are empirically linked.
Over the last ten years, RSF’s press freedom map has gradually turned red, just like The Economist’s Democracy Index. In the span of a decade, 16 countries have seen their press freedom situation become “very serious”, and 36 countries have come under the yoke of authoritarian governments. Ten of these countries are Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, Burma, Cambodia, Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
In 2024, the same year democracy levels hit their lowest point since the Democracy Index’s creation in 2006, RSF noted that journalists’ work was increasingly obstructed by political forces.
Over 85% of journalists detained worldwide are imprisoned by authoritarian regimes. The 59 countries labeled “authoritarian regimes” by the Democracy Index, places where the state exercises direct control over the media and criticism of the authorities is dangerous, hold over 500 journalists, including 111 detained in China, 61 in Burma, 42 in Belarus, 40 in Russia, 37 in Israel and Vietnam, 25 in Syria and Iran.
In the vast majority of corrupt, undemocratic regimes – dubbed “hybrid” by The Economist – pressure on the media is intense, and journalists are frequently killed or imprisoned for their work. This violence is particularly frequent during election periods, as was the case in Turkey (currently ranking 158th out of 180 countries in RSF’s Index), where 43 journalists went to prison in 2023.
Some “hybrid” regimes in the top quarter of RSF’s Index, such as Armenia (43rd), Fiji (44th), and Mauritania (33rd), show that even within political systems that are not fully democratic, improvements in press freedom are achievable.
Of the 24 countries with a fully-fledged democracy, a quarter have a “good” press freedom situation. They are the six countries at the top of RSF’s Index: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland.
