“Without economic independence, there can be no free press,” RSF said in a statement announcing the 2025 iteration of the press freedom index. “When news media are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audiences at the expense of quality reporting, and can fall prey to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them,” it said.
News outlets are shutting down in nearly a third of the 180 countries included in the index, RSF said. Media in even relatively highly ranked nations such as New Zealand and South Africa are grappling with challenges of financial viability.
