Press freedom is categorized as either “difficult” or “very serious” in half of the countries in the region, according to Reporters Without Borders’ annual ranking.
In a year marked by severe restrictions to press freedom globally – with widespread criminalization of journalism – the situation in the Americas is among the worst.
Since 2022, the region has fallen 14 points in the World Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF, for its initials in French).
This decline, RSF notes, is similar to that observed in the world's most dangerous regions for practicing journalism: the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
As part of its ranking – released on April 30, 2026, in anticipation of World Press Freedom Day – RSF scores and ranks 180 countries and territories on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest possible level of press freedom.
Based on these scores, the organization categorizes the press freedom situation in countries as “good,” “satisfactory,” “problematic,” “difficult” or “very serious.”
Fourteen countries in the Americas are in a “difficult” or “very serious” situation.
Nicaragua (ranked 168), Cuba (160), Venezuela (159), Peru (144) and El Salvador (143) occupy the lowest spots in the rankings within the “very serious” category.
Honduras (132), Guatemala (128), Ecuador (125), Mexico (122), Haiti (107), Colombia (102), Argentina (98), Bolivia (91) and Paraguay (88) fall into the “difficult” category.
No country in the Americas ranked as “good” and only four were categorized as “satisfactory”: Canada (20), Jamaica (26), Suriname (34) and Costa Rica (38).
Even Costa Rica, where freedoms of the press and of expression are historically “highly respected,” as noted by RSF, dropped 30 positions compared to 2022.
“The continent is characterized by two trends: an increase in violence perpetrated by organized crime and by political forces,” the RSF analysis says.
Six countries in the region were particularly responsible for the decline in the continent's overall score, Artur Romeu, director of RSF’s Latin America office, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
The United States (64) has dropped 22 positions since 2022 and 7 since 2025. Argentina (69 positions), Peru (67 positions), Ecuador (57 positions) and El Salvador (31 positions) showed severe declines compared to 2022. In the case of El Salvador, the drop amounted to 77 positions compared to the 2018 rankings—before Nayib Bukele had come to power.
“We have fallen 105 positions since 2014. Such a dramatic drop is neither an accident nor a coincidence,” Sergio Arauz, president of the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), told LJR. “It is a faithful reflection of the fact that States are turning the persecution of journalists into public policy. That explains why, over the past year, the dilemma has been between doing something other than journalism or going into exile.”
El Salvador's situation is not unique; rather, it represents the setbacks facing the region, continued Arauz. That is why he says journalism is needed now more than ever.
“The call to our colleagues is to organize and resist, but also to take care of and protect themselves,” Arauz said. “As for the politicians, all we can do is keep insisting that they not confuse the message with the messenger.”
The Americas are not alone.
In the 25 years that RSF has compiled its World Press Freedom Index, this year is the first time more than half of the world’s countries (52%) are classified as being in a “difficult” or “very serious” situation.
The ranking analyzes the state of press freedom across five indicators: political, legal, economic, social and journalist safety.
Globally, the most affected indicator is “legal,” which RSF said demonstrates the growing criminalization of journalism.
“How much longer will we tolerate the suffocation of journalism, the systematic obstruction of reporters and the continued erosion of press freedom?” Anne Bocandé, RSF editorial director, said in the introduction to the 2026 report.
Bocandé posed this question when considering the future after 25 years of analysis, because “although attacks on the right to information are more diverse and sophisticated, their perpetrators are now operating in plain sight.” From authoritarian states to complicit or ineffective politicians, as well as predatory economic actors and “under-regulated” platforms—all bear responsibility.
“The figures are striking. It is clear that we are at the worst moment in terms of the average score across the group of countries globally,” Romeu said.
The press, Romeu said, faces a multidimensional crisis in a world where authoritarian models are taking hold—even within established democracies—employing more subtle strategies of censorship: increasing propaganda and disinformation campaigns, as well as restricting access to information, among other measures. Wars and conflicts across much of the globe, along with an economic crisis exacerbated by major technology platforms, further compound these problems.
“We see consolidated democracies around the world that have aligned themselves with a dynamic of political power in which systematic polarization involving the media and journalists has become a strategy for electoral gain,” Romeu said.
Yet, there is a positive sign for press freedom in the Americas, however limited.
For the first time in 25 years, Brazil (52) ranks above the United States, recording a rise of 58 positions in four years. The country improved its score in four of the five indicators.
A large part of this improvement is explained by the change of government, with a “radically” different stance toward the press, Romeu said.
“We are returning to a scenario of classic, traditional democratic normality—not even innovative changes,” Romeu said.
This scenario creates a ripple effect across other entities that reinforce transparency, access to information, and institutional independence. Initiatives such as the Observatory on Violence Against Journalists and the recent national standard for investigating crimes against journalists are noteworthy efforts. Furthermore, the last murder of a journalist in the country was recorded in 2022.
While the case of Brazil is quite positive, Romeu noted, it does not stem from a profound shift. In fact, the country stands out negatively for instances of judicial harassment; and the social indicator—which measures public trust in the press, hate campaigns against journalists, media pluralism, and the perception of self-censorship regarding sensitive topics, among other factors—was the only one that did not improve.
"This demonstrates the 'tensions' that still exist in the country," Romeu said.
One of the vital factors in achieving a solution of sorts is overcoming the disconnect that exists between society and journalism. Political powers have fostered distrust toward the media and journalists while establishing more direct channels to disseminate their propaganda, Romeu said.
Technological platforms have contributed to this shift in the way information is consumed, creating bubbles that reinforce biases and lead people to view journalism as merely another form of opinion, rather than an exercise in understanding reality.
The media are also responsible, Romeu said, with their lack of transparency, plurality and even media literacy initiatives.
These multiple factors affecting the press create, Romeu said, a kind of “perfect storm.”
“And the truth is that the only way out lies in reactivating the collective and social dimension of the right to freedom of the press,” he said.
One of the main challenges, he added, is dispelling the belief that freedom of the press is a right belonging to journalists or professional associations, and ensuring instead that it is understood as a right of the citizenry. Emphasizing this collective and social dimension would succeed in engaging society in the struggle to guarantee freedom of the press.
This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Teresa Mioli
