The World Press Freedom Index compares the levels enjoyed by news media in 180 countries and territories.
Press-bashing has become a reflex among totalitarian dictators, and it’s becoming an ugly crutch.
The definition of press freedom used by RSF and its panel of experts to compile the Index is the following:
“Press freedom is defined as the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.
On the basis of this definition, the press freedom questionnaire and map are broken down into five distinct categories or indicators (political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety).
https://rsf.org/en/methodology-used-compiling-world-press-freedom-index…
Press freedom map
The press freedom map offers a visual overview of the scores of all the countries in the index. The colors and classifications are assigned as follows:
- [85 - 100 points] Good (green)
- [70 - 85 points} Satisfactory (yellow)
- [55 - 70 points} Problematic (light orange)
- [40 - 55 points} Difficult (dark orange)
- [0 - 40 points} Very serious (dark red)
Evaluation criteria: five contextual indicators
Each country or territory’s score is evaluated using five contextual indicators that reflect the press freedom situation in all of its complexity: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety.