Russia Less Free Than Palestine, and other RSF Press Freedom Report Shockers 

Democracies survive on freedom of speech, but the persistent decline of this vital characteristic has taken its toll across the globe. Over the past few years, there has been an assault on media with governments and corporations trying to control the narrative through censorship and brute force. 

With Russia being ranked less free than Palestine, an active war zone and Afghanistan beating the press freedom ranking of Iran, the Reporters Sans Frontiers 2025 Press Freedom Index report shows some shocking developments from around the world. 

Russia Less Free Than Palestine

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, all independent media has been banned in the nation and termed foreign agents. Russia ranks 171 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2025 with right to freedom, assembly and expression being extremely curtailed. Russia even ranks below Palestine, a war zone, which is ranked at 163. The nation has dropped from its previous ranking of 162 in 2024 owing to its extensive suppression of freedom of expression post the invasion of Ukraine.

바카라�War censorship바카라� laws have been an instrumental weapon employed by the Russian regime in silencing dissenters and other critical media. According to reports by Amnesty International, 98 new criminal cases were registered against 171 individuals in wake of these war censorship laws. The government has also tackled its critics by using counter-terrorism laws. Foreign messaging and other media has also been suspended in the nation while employing domestic alternatives that enable direct tracking and surveillance. 

Charges of 바카라�discrediting the armed forces바카라� have been repeatedly used to suppress dissent. Human rights activist Oreg Orlov was sentenced to imprisonment for 30 months citing these charges, while journalist Roman Ivanov got seven years in prison for 바카라�disseminating knowingly false information about armed forces바카라� after he criticised the Russian forces for their alleged war crimes in Ukraine.    

Authorities have clamped down on peaceful protest except for those that are in favour of the government. Three hundred and eighty-seven people were arrested across various cities in Russia for mourning the death of Alexei Navalny, who was a staunch critic of Russian President Vlaymyr Putin and his administration. 

Moscow fined Svetlana Sokolova for 30,000 rubles (Rs. 30,667)  for wearing a blue and yellow hat and pin. The judgement, accessed by the HRW, said that by wearing these colours she was 바카라�calling for impeding the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in a military operation바카라�.

Saudi Arabia Press Freedom Better Than Others 

Speaking of misstepping on the government바카라�s toes, the oil rich nation of Saudi Arabia tops the rankings in silencing dissenters. Saudi Arabia ranks 162 out of 180 countries in RSF Press Freedom Index of 2025 gaining four positions from its previous rank of 166 in 2024. However, this slight lift is only due to worsening conditions in other nations and is partially in lieu of a better score in terms of media economy. As a part of its Vision 2030 reform program, the Saudi regime has invested heavily to develop media and internet infrastructure in the country aiding greater access in the region.

The Saudi monarchs employ prosecution, prison sentences, detention and travel bans to curb opposing views not just on their own land but also on foreign soil. An example of Saudi impunity can be witnessed in the case of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a US-based journalist and a vocal critic of the Saudi regime. He had earlier been an advisor to the Saudi royal family but soon fell out of favour before going into a self-imposed exile in 2017. He wrote a monthly column for the Washington Post criticising the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Turkey to collect some documents, never to return again. According to HRW reports, a trial for this took place behind closed doors and did not meet the international standards of accountability. At first, the Arabic nation denied any acknowledgement of the disappearance. However, the Saudi government asserted later that preliminary investigations revealed that he died during a fight after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. This is not a one-off incident. 

The Saudi regime constantly monitors and surveys the social media of its citizens. Any activity that the royals바카라� condone is enough to administer rigorous imprisonment. Salma al-Shebab, a PhD student at the University of Leeds was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2021 while she was on a vacation in Saudi Arabia. Her crime? Women's rights activism demanding freedom from the clutches of state-imposed religious systems. 

Several countries in the world guarantee the right to freedom of speech at least in principle but misuse it in implementation. The Saudi Basic Law, however, does not enshrine any such thing as freedom of speech. Instead it emphasises Islamic principles and obedience to the ruler which is implemented to suit the ruler바카라�s needs. 

Afghanistan Press Has More Freedom Than Iran바카라�s

As of 2025, Afghanistan ranks 175 out of 180 countries in RSF Press Freedom Index gaining three spots from its previous ranking of 178. The slight improvement was in the social context parameter which refers to a slight improvement in community-level harassment. The de facto Taliban regime has severely curtailed women바카라�s movement and freedom of expression. Laws stating that women cannot use the transport without a marham (male companion) and restricting their right to education beyond primary school itself depict the sorry state of freedom in the country, let alone freedom of expression. 

The regime has regularly employed enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions for people who speak out against them. In August 2023, the Taliban Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) announced that they had detained 13,000 people over the past year for violating their morality rules. Torture, ill treatment and death penalties are seemingly common for those detained. 

According to the Afghanistan Journalists Centre, 450 media violations have been recorded since the Taliban took over as of 2024. Their reports also indicate that three journalists have been killed, 219 in detention and 235 facing physical threats and condemnation for pushing content that did not sit well with the administration. According to RSF, more than 80 percent of female journalists were relieved from service post the takeover while the remaining are subjected to strict moral and dressing rules.  

Many Afghan journalists and activists have either fled the country or gone into hiding with most of the media centres that existed before the Taliban coming into power being shut down.

Argentina's Declining Press Freedom Under New Regime

A suitable case study of how the rise of authoritarian leadership is eroding the freedom of speech and expression in countries across the world can be witnessed in Argentina. Argentina ranked 87 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index 2025, spiralling from its previous position of 66. Argentina dropped 21 points in just over a year credit to its new ruling administration. Javier Gerardo Milei, who won the election in 2023 has undertaken various steps since he came into office to undermine press freedom and suppress dissent systematically.

According to reports by the Argentine Journalism Forum, 61 attacks were recorded against the Argentinian press in the first half of 2024 alone. The report stated that the President was directly responsible for 30 percent of those. Addressing the press as 바카라�corrupt바카라�, 바카라�blackmailers바카라� and 바카라�liars바카라�, his government suspended Latin America바카라�s largest news agency, Télam, in March last year citing them as a 바카라�propaganda바카라� tool.

According to reports by the RSF, physical attacks on journalists have also increased multifold. In March 2025, while covering a protest staged by retirees against government바카라�s policies, Photojournalist Pablo Grillo was severely injured after being hit by a tear gas fired by the police.

In his bid to silence the independent media that acts as a vocal critic to his policies, his administration declared the revision of a 2009 law on broadcast media in the country. The law put a cap on the number of radio, terrestrial TV and cable network licenses that can be held by a single owner.

American Press Freedom Slips Under Trump, Again

The USA, a bastion of free speech and a haven for civil liberties, ranks 57 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index 2025 published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Despite constitutional safeguards, the freedom of speech has consistently declined over the past few years. Several organisations have flagged this freedom to be going further downhill with Donald Trump바카라�s return to power for his second term as US President. The rankings for the USA fell by two points as it ranked 55th in the 2024 report. RSF had also downgraded the US바카라�s press freedom rating by two points one year into Trump바카라�s first term in 2017. 

The first 100 days of Trump second term as US President has seen the administration attempt to control the public discourse and mold what information the public receives, along with widespread discrediting of national news networks such as NPR and  PBS 

Private universities, such as Harvard, are at the receiving end of a funding crackdown by the government for refusing to comply with some of the government바카라�s demands. 

In light of the Israel-Palestine war where America is the biggest ally of Israel, the administration has clamped down on these universities where Pro-Palestinian protests have occurred. The Trump administration has justified their moves of cutting funding and demanding disciplinary reforms by saying such protests contribute to 바카라�an unsafe environment for Jewish students.바카라� The crackdown has been initiated to 바카라�de-woke바카라� the academia indicating a heavy thrust towards ideological hegemony in American society.

This bid to homogenise political and social thought was also witnessed recently when the Associated Press was excluded from the Presidential media events. The news agency had not termed the Gulf of Mexico as The Gulf of America, which is the Trump administration바카라�s preferred name for it. 

According to reports, the Federal Communications Commission is mounting investigations against CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR AND PBS. The FCC is reportedly also terminating federal funding for public broadcasters NPR AND PBS saying these networks have become more left-wing and radical.