You’d think that a country whose constitution specifically enshrines freedom of speech would regularly top the annual World Press Freedom Index.
Yet, the United States doesn’t top it; indeed, it ranks pretty poorly. Last year, it came 55th out of 180, which was a drop of 10 places from 2023.
In fact, the country has been sliding down the scale ever since the index was launched in 2002 by Reporters sans Frontières. In its first year, the US ranked 17th, in 2013, it came 32nd.
For a country that prides itself on being the land of the free and with its much admired first amendment, that’s a shocking state of affairs. The US should be climbing up the index, not sliding down it.
Sadly, it seems highly likely it will continue on its downward trajectory. When the 2025 index is published in May, where will the US rank? 65th? 75th?
The new Trump administration is barely a month old and the omens are not good.
Last week, it banned the Associated Press (AP), the highly respected news agency founded in 1846, from the Oval Office and Air Force One, over the agency’s refusal to refer to the body of water immediately to the south of the US as the Gulf of America, and not the Gulf of Mexico, the name by which it has been known for over four centuries and which the rest of the world still uses. President Trump had decreed the name change on his first day back in office.
Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents’ Association President, called Trump's attack on the AP a “textbook violation” of the first amendment.
In a statement, Daniels said: “The White House is seeking to curtail the press freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and has admitted publicly they are restricting access to events to punish a news outlet for not advancing the government’s preferred language. Free speech and a free press are among the defining values of American democracy and must be preserved and protected.”
How should the press react?
In Vanity Fair, Contributing Editor Eric Lutz wrote: “The press must show solidarity — and resolve. After all, this is but a preview of bigger battles to come: Trump and his allies — such as Elon Musk, his top adviser, and Kash Patel, his soon-to-be-confirmed FBI director — seek to wield their wealth and power against those who would seek to hold them accountable.”
85th?, 95th?...
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