May 24, 2026
Do we have a free press in this country?
Now wait — before you go in the comments and answer that — I want you to hear this.
The answer, at least according to one organization of journalists, may actually shock you. They say when it comes to freedom of the press — you know, the First Amendment in the United States Constitution — when compared to 180 countries around the world, the United States doesn’t rank in the top 10, doesn’t rank in the top 20, or even the top 50. When it comes to freedom of the press, in 2026 the United States ranks 64th. That’s down seven spots from 2025 and down 47 spots since 2002. The United States is sandwiched between Botswana and Panama.
Now, before I tell you how this organization of journalists came to this conclusion, I want to thank my paid FactsHQ subscribers for overwhelmingly voting for this story as the bonus this week. If you want to vote on next week’s bonus story and get some other cool perks from me, make sure you follow these easy steps and become a paid subscriber. Speaking of journalism, it is because of my awesome paid FactsHQ subscribers that I am able to continue to be a professional journalist and bring you the news every single day. Without them, this video would disappear. So if you want to support my work — and of course only if you can — please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
OK, the organization behind this really interesting report is Reporters Without Borders. They are an international nonprofit organization that defends journalists. Their website says they defend the right of every human being to have access to free and reliable information. And they’ve been putting out what’s called the World Press Freedom Index for almost 25 years.
The report is very visual. It has this map of the world, and it’s color-coded based on freedom of the press. Green means good, yellow is satisfactory, orange is problematic, darker orange is difficult, and red is very serious. They base the Press Freedom Index on a country’s politics toward journalists, its legal framework toward journalists, its culture toward journalists, the economics for journalists in that country, and the safety of journalists in that country.
I will tell you Reporters Without Borders gets a lot of heat for putting out this list because certain governments say they are using a Western lens to look at non-Western countries and how those non-Western countries treat their press. As you know, there is no such thing as freedom of the press in a lot of countries, so usually those countries don’t like this report. Does that make sense?
OK, now that you know that, let’s look at the actual report. According to Reporters Without Borders, it’s pretty bad for journalists in the United States. But the organization says freedom of the press is suffering all over the world, and it’s getting worse as the years go on. In fact, they say for the first time since they started keeping track, over half of the countries in the world fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom.
The best place for press freedom, according to this report, is Norway, where they say the legal framework that safeguards press freedom is “robust” and there is a strong public-service broadcaster along with a diversified private-sector press. The dead last worst place for press freedom is an African country called Eritrea, where there is no independent media and it’s all dictated by the government. Right above them are North Korea, China, and Iran.
As for the United States, we are in the problematic category, which is light orange, and we’ve been “problematic” since 2024. 2019 was also a problematic year. But every other year we’ve been in the satisfactory category. In fact, the very first year Reporters Without Borders released this report, the United States ranked 17th for press freedom in the world. Now we’re 64th. But why?
Well, Reporters Without Borders says it’s a combination of several issues. They say American journalists have been dealing with economic hardships for years, which checks out. How many media mergers have we seen since 2024 where newsrooms were eliminated or consolidated, leaving journalists out of a job or too overworked to want to continue? A lot. Not to mention the complete defunding of PBS and NPR last year.
Now, when I say economic issues, let me clarify. No one gets into the field of journalism to become rich. Honestly, my salary in my first job as a television news reporter was $18,000 a year, and it didn’t get much better for several years after that. But still, being a professional journalist is not a hobby. It’s a job like any other job, and journalists have to pay bills too. And when the salaries are so low and the blowback you get from doing the job is so harsh, it’s not really an inviting field to be a part of unless you really love it and are willing to put up with all the bullshit that comes with it.
But speaking of those mergers, that leads to another issue noted in this report that’s putting American journalism in the problematic category. All those mergers are creating an environment where a small handful of people control all the media outlets in the country — all the networks, all the newspapers, and all the local TV and radio stations. That has led to a crisis of public trust. Right? When the public feels like there’s collusion among outlets or only one side of the story being told because every outlet is owned by the same person, that leads to public mistrust, which is really problematic for a profession that is meant to be telling the truth.
So this report is saying because of all that consolidation, coupled with those mergers, fewer jobs available, and the harassment of journalists — for example during protests — that’s making for this sort of toxic environment for journalists to operate in.
And then the report calls out the obvious attacks on the media that have ramped up since President Trump came back into office. You know, stuff like this…
And that was just last week. Look, whether you like President Trump or not, the fact is he has used the term “fake news” for years and has gone after specific journalists, especially when they report a story he doesn’t like or a story he believes paints him in a negative light. For the record, just because you don’t like something doesn’t make it fake. And all those attacks we’ve seen on the profession take a toll on the entire journalism industry, especially when they’re coming from the most powerful man in the world.
For me, I will tell you, never once in my television career has any boss of mine told me what I can and cannot report. That never happened to me. I know others in my field who say it has happened to them. That’s why I’m so grateful for this incredible community we’ve built here.
I can tell you doing this all on my own now, all the same pressures exist as when I was reporting at a TV news station. There are economic pressures, and of course the fake news attacks don’t help. But all I can do is what I know, which is report the facts to you as plainly as I possibly can every single day, no matter who those facts help or hurt, so you can understand those facts and make the best decisions for yourself and your family.
Read the World Press Freedom Index here.
