Press freedom in the Americas slips to lowest level in years, report says

Press freedom across the Americas has deteriorated sharply over the past year, with the United States experiencing the steepest decline in the region, according to a new report released by the Inter American Press Association.

The organisation published its latest press freedom index on Tuesday, describing the current situation as the most difficult environment for journalists since the study began in 2020.

Researchers said the region has seen a “dramatic deterioration” in freedom of expression and the ability of journalists to operate without interference.

“This is one of the worst years for journalism in the region, marked by murders, arbitrary arrests, exile, and rampant impunity in countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela,” the report said.

The findings suggest that restrictions on press freedom are emerging across governments with very different political orientations. According to the report, the erosion of media freedoms is not limited to any single ideology but appears across both left-leaning and right-leaning administrations.

The United States, however, stood out in the report for what researchers called an “alarming decline”.

In a ranking of 23 countries across the hemisphere, the US dropped from fourth place to 11th. The shift indicates that journalists in the country are increasingly operating under pressure and facing new obstacles in their work.

The report linked much of the decline to developments following the return of President Donald Trump to office last year.

“Even though journalistic practice in the United States remains protected by the Constitution and laws, last year’s events saw the erosion of safeguards,” the report explained.

It added that Trump had contributed to the “stigmatisation of critical journalism”. Researchers also pointed to policy changes such as reductions in public media funding and the closure of the government-funded broadcaster Voice of America as factors weakening the media landscape.

The report documented 170 attacks against journalists in the United States over the past year. It also highlighted encounters between reporters and federal immigration agents as an area raising concern among press freedom advocates.

Elsewhere in the region, several countries continue to rank near the bottom of the index.

Nicaragua and Venezuela were both categorised as operating “without freedom of expression”. In Venezuela, the report cited the closure of more than 400 radio stations and the detention of 25 journalists following the disputed presidential election in 2024.

On a scale of 100, Venezuela’s press freedom score was recorded at 7.02, placing it last among the 23 countries evaluated.

El Salvador also dropped further in the rankings and now stands in 21st position, just ahead of Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Sergio Arauz, president of the Association of Journalists of El Salvador, said the situation for reporters has become increasingly difficult under President Nayib Bukele.

Arauz said that 50 Salvadoran journalists had gone into exile over the past year following sustained harassment by the government.

“There are no possibilities of practicing journalism fully without facing consequences when there is an Executive branch with virtually unlimited powers and no effective legal oversight,” Arauz said.

The report highlighted El Salvador’s ongoing state of emergency, introduced in 2022 to combat crime, as a factor affecting civil liberties. It also pointed to the country’s new Foreign Agents Law, which allows authorities to dissolve organisations receiving funding from abroad.

El Salvador is one of eight countries now classified as having “high restriction” environments for the press. The others in that category include Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Haiti and Cuba.

At the other end of the scale, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Canada and Brazil ranked among the countries offering the strongest protections for press freedom in the region.