The global analysis of NGOs without borders indicates that the economic restrictions in the media and financial conditions of journalism have dragged the index
BRASILIA – The economic indicator of the world freedom of the press freedom, NGO reporter without edges (RSF)In 2025 the drop recorded in recent years and reached the worst level of history.
Brazil, in turn, was one of Few countries around the world to improve In the ranking, due to the end of the government of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). The information is included in the global analysis report published on Friday 2.
For the first time, the average score of all the countries evaluated by RSF dropped below 55 points, the limit that qualifies the situation of freedom of the press as “difficult”. More than six out of ten countries had worsened in the ranking.
The NGO underlines that the deteriorated economic environment, which makes the financial profitability of Journalistic vehiclesIt is a key piece to understand the fall in the index. “Although physical aggressions against journalists are the most visible aspect of attacks on freedom of the press, the most insidious economic pressures also represent a significant obstacle,” says the document.
The concentration of the media owned, the pressure of advertisers or financiers, the absence, the restriction or the opaque assignment of the public help, affirm the researchers, have contributed to weakening the journalism exercised in the world. Without money, many vehicles must decide between the guarantee of their editorial independence and the survival of their activity.
The indicator relating to economic restrictions in the media and financial conditions of journalism is, among the five indicators that make up the world ranking of press freedom (security, social, legislature, politics and economic), the main factor that drags the overall score of the countries by 2025. The only criterion that records continuous improvement is that of security.
“When a means of communication is economically weakened, it is dragged by the races from the public to the detriment of quality and can become easy prey to the oligarchs or public decision makers who explore it. When journalists are impoverished, they no longer have ways to resist the opponents of the press, who are often promoters of disinformation and propaganda”, says Anne Bocandé, RSF editor.
The document mentions several countries that have had falls, some of which are significant, in the ranking, between the rebirth of censorship in authoritarian regimes. Brazil is already mentioned as one of the few positive cases in the world.
The report describes that the country is in 63rd place and “continues its ascent after Bolsonaro’s era, with a jump of 47 positions since 2022. This evolution reflects the perception of a less hostile climate to journalism and the country stands out as one of the few to improve its economic indicator”.
Artur Romeu, director of the RSF office for Latin America, states that Brazil is one of the positive highlights of the global survey increasing 19 positions – 47 from 2022. The country has been for three years of progression.
“One of the factors (which explain the improvement) is a paradigm change in the relationship between government and press that happened to the alternation of power”, says Romeo, with reference to the hostile climate offered by the Bolsonaro government to communication professionals. “(Furthermore), the current government has placed at the center of its agenda the debate on the integrity of the information and the concern for the chaos of disinformation.”
The Director of the ASF states, however, that Brazil is among the countries where freedom of the press is considered problematic. Safety for the production of sensitive relationships involving the authorities and the threat to the physical integrity of journalists are two of the indicators who “hold” the Brazilian context at unsatisfactory levels.
In 42 countries, which represent more than half of the world population (56.7%), the situation is considered “very serious” by RSF. Nicaragua (172º) is mentioned as the country that has become the one with the worst score in Latin America, also behind Cuba (165 °). El Salvador (135 °), by the Autoritarian Nayib Bukele, maintains his fall trajectory: 61 positions lost since 2020.
The Argentine of Javier Milei (87 °) (87 °), in turn, has decreased by 47 positions in the ranking in the last two years. In Haiti (111), “the collapse of the state and the violence of the band transformed journalism into a profession of reserves. The country has fallen into 22 positions in the ranking”.
Bia Barbosa, coordinator of the incidence of the RSF office for Latin America and participant in the Panel About Free Press, from the “Freedom of Expression Forum – 150 years in defense of freedom and democracy”, promoted by Estodão Tuesday 29, highlighted to the event that Brazil is part of a wider South American context: the Region is champion in the murder of communicators in the world, he said. He said that outside the main urban centers there is a greater vulnerability to local authorities, which can place journalism between independence and economic survival.
In addition, the largest threat to the freedom of the press in Brazil and all over the world detected by journalists without borders, he said, is the rise of the far right. “Mainly because this distortion and appropriation of the concept of freedom of expression, which is made on the extreme right, has blocked important initiatives to guarantee the freedom of the press,” he said.
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Source: Terra
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