The Editorial Director of Reporters Without Borders, Anne Bocandé, has warned that the spread of authoritarianism is not inevitable, even as global press freedom dropped to its lowest level in the organization’s 25-year record. She made the warning in the 2026 annual RSF Index, which surveys media freedom in 180 countries and territories. The report reveals that more than half of the countries surveyed now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom.
Bocandé further explained that by providing a retrospective of the past 25 years, RSF is not merely looking back, but looking directly into the future with a pressing question: how much longer the world will tolerate the suffocation of journalism, the systematic obstruction of reporters, and the continued erosion of press freedom.
She acknowledged that attacks on the right to information have become more diverse and sophisticated, while those responsible now operate openly. According to her, authoritarian states, complicit or ineffective political powers, predatory economic actors, and under-regulated online platforms are directly and overwhelmingly responsible for the global decline in press freedom.
Within this context, Bocandé stressed that inaction amounts to endorsement. She argued that it is no longer enough to merely state democratic principles, insisting that effective measures to protect journalists are urgently needed and must serve as catalysts for change. She maintained that such efforts should begin with ending the criminalisation of journalism, including the misuse of national security laws, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), and the systematic obstruction of investigative reporting.
She also criticised existing protection mechanisms as insufficient, warning that international law is being undermined while impunity continues to thrive.
“We need firm guarantees and meaningful sanctions. The ball is in the court of democracies and their citizens. It is up to them to stand in the way of those who seek to silence the press. The spread of authoritarianism isn’t inevitable,” she stated.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, joined press freedom advocates worldwide in commemorating World Press Freedom Day under the theme, “Shaping a Future at Peace: Promoting Press Freedom for Human Rights, Development and Security.”
Guterres called for stronger protection of journalists’ rights and urged the international community to create a world where both the truth and those who report it can exist safely.
Observed annually on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 to commemorate the Declaration of Windhoek. This year’s observance comes at a sobering moment for journalism globally.
The UN Secretary-General warned that recent years have witnessed a sharp rise in the number of journalists killed, many of them deliberately targeted in conflict zones. He estimated that 85 percent of crimes committed against journalists go uninvestigated and unpunished, describing the level of impunity as unacceptable.
He further noted that economic pressures, emerging technologies, and deliberate manipulation are placing press freedom under unprecedented strain. According to Guterres, journalists are increasingly among the first casualties wherever those in power fear scrutiny, whether in times of war or in societies experiencing democratic decline. Across the globe, media workers continue to face censorship, surveillance, legal harassment, and even death, all of which undermine press freedom and the public’s right to information.
Recent global assessments also point to a significant deterioration in media freedom worldwide. UNESCO’s World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Report (2022–2025) notes the steepest decline in press freedom since 2012, while the 2025 World Press Freedom Index classified the global state of press freedom as a “difficult situation” for the first time. More than four billion people are now estimated to live in countries where journalism faces severe restrictions.
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