In only a handful of countries are journalists supported, protected and generally trusted. We need to change that.
A clickable map of press freedom. Courtesy of Reporters Without Borders.
After a century of gradual expansion of press rights in the United States, the country is experiencing its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history, and Donald Trump’s return to the presidency is greatly exacerbating the situation.
Those are not my words. They come from Reporters Without Borders, the nonprofit organization that tracks press freedom around the world.
I found it when I decided to check in with the Press Freedom Index. The United States is now #57 out of 180, down two rungs from last year. That means that there are 56 countries in the world where the press is considered freer than the one that pioneered press freedom with its First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Reporters Without Borders says that in the United States now, there has been a disturbing decline in local news, a dangerous concentration of media in the hands of corporations, a growing interest in partisan news and the erosion of public confidence in the media.
The last one on that list — erosion of public confidence in the media — is caused by the first three. And there is a direct connection between the first two — it is because of a decades-long concentration of media in the hands of corporations that there has been a demise in local news, as these organizations systematically bought up local newspapers and gutted them.
Threats to press freedom
All this has left the press in the United States in a weakened state to deal with the threat from the Trump administration. Reporters Without Borders cites the dismissal and deportation from the United States of reporters who worked for Voice of America and the administrations attempt to cut funding from public media.
But note that the situation is bad across the world. Since the beginning of 2025, 574 journalists and media workers have been detained around the world and 15 killed.
The Index comes with a map color coded from Good (Green) to Very Serious (Red). Russia is red. But only a handful of countries out of 180 are coded Good: Norway, Estonia, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Ireland. The top country on the list is Norway. What makes it so press friendly? Strong legal protections, healthy public media and diversified private media. Politicians who don’t critcize the press.
But even in an environment seemingly ideal for journalists, the Press Freedom Index comes with this caution for Norway: “Journalists generally work in a safe environment. While physical violence is rare, threats against journalists are commonplace.”
This year, News Decoder is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Our mission has been to work with young people to foster an appreciation for diverse perspectives, and get them to think critically about global issues and identify solutions to local, national and global problems. We do that through journalism. Without journalism and the courageous and determined reporters around the world, we wouldn’t have access to these diverse perspectives.
But news organizations and the people who work for them can’t do so in a vacuum. They need the support of readers, listeners and viewers, and funders, lawmakers and the courts.
We need to make threats against journalists rare and each country on the map green.
Questions to consider:
1. What makes Norway such a good country for journalists?
2. What are some reasons that Reporters Without Borders is worried about press freedom in the United States?
3. Do you think journalists are trusted in your country and why do you think that is so?
Marcy Burstiner is the educational news director for News Decoder. She is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication at the California Polytechnic University, Humboldt in California. She is the author of the book "Investigative Reporting: From premise to publication."