Press Freedom Index

The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organization's assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. Reporters Without Borders is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism nor does it look at human rights violations in general.

The report is based partly on a questionnaire that asks questions about pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and infrastructure. The questionnaire takes account of the legal framework for the media (including penalties for press offences, the existence of a state monopoly for certain kinds of media and how the media are regulated) and the level of independence of the public media. It also reflects violations of the free flow of information on the Internet. Violence against journalists, netizens, and media assistants, including abuses attributable to the state, armed militias, clandestine organizations, and pressure groups, are monitored by RSF staff during the year and are also part of the final score. A smaller score corresponds to greater freedom of the press. The questionnaire is sent to partner organizations of Reporters Without Borders: 1) 18 freedom of expression non-governmental organizations located in all five continents, 2) its 150 correspondents around the world, and also 3) journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists.

Based on the data collected, a score and a position or rank, complementary indicators that together assess the state of media freedom, are assigned to each country in the final report. Some countries are excluded from the report because of a lack of reliable, confirmed information. Because the questions and calculations upon which the scores are based have changed over the years, scores should only be used to compare countries within a given year. To follow a country’s evolution from year to year compare its rank in the index rather than its score.

Each report reflects the situation during a specific period. The year of the report is the year the report was released and reflects events in the prior year. So, for example, the 2009 report was published in October 2009 and reflects events between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009. No report was released in 2011. The 2011–2012 report, labeled 2012 in the table below, was published on 20 January 2012 and reflects events between 1 December 2010 and 30 November 2011. The 2013 World Press Freedom Index was published on 30 January 2013 and reflects events between 1 December 2011 and 30 November 2012.

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