Existing comment:
The World Has Changed
Press Freedom Changes
The Newseum's world press freedom map has been updated to reflect the latest ratings from Freedom House. Around the world, the limited access to a free press is driven by unprecedented threats to the media in major democracies and crackdowns on independent journalists by authoritarian regimes.
Fewer than one in seven people live in a country where the press is free.
Here are the changes and the reasons the ratings improved or declined, according to Freedom House. This information is based on the state of press freedom in 2018.
The Good News
Ecuador -- Not Free --> Partly Free
* A new president is more supportive of media independence.
* Legal reforms in 2018 eliminated the government's repressive media regulator, the Supercom.
The Bad News
Slovakia -- Free --> Partly Free
* Several public broadcast journalists were replaced with those deemed more sympathetic to the ruling coalition government.
* A journalist investigating ties between the government and organized crime was murdered in 2018.
Tonga -- Free --> Partly Free
* Hostile rhetoric against journalists increased.
* The state-run public broadcaster faced more political interference, including a series of leadership changes in 2017.
Tanzania -- Partly Free --> Not Free
* An investigative journalist disappeared in 2017, and two media activists researching Tanzania's press freedom were detailed a year later.
* New regulations in 2018 imposed hefty registration fees on online media.
* A newspaper was suspended from publishing for a week after allegedly printing false information. |