Brian Daitzman is the Editor of The Intellectualist. Subscribe to his Substack.
The United States has fallen to 64th place among 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index, immediately behind Botswana and ahead of Panama.
The country ranked 57th a year earlier. Reporters Without Borders, known by its French initials RSF, says the United States is experiencing a “significant and prolonged decline” in press freedom, with President Trump’s return to office “greatly exacerbating the situation.”
The decline predates Trump’s second term. The United States ranked 55th in 2024 after a 10-place fall that RSF linked in part to declining trust in the media, threats and violence against journalists and stalled legal reforms. But RSF says conditions deteriorated further after Trump returned to office in January 2025.
The shift was concentrated in RSF’s political and security indicators. The political score fell from 62.38 in 2025 to 53.59 in 2026, while the security score fell from 78.03 to 69.68. Its legal and sociocultural scores improved slightly.
RSF cites cuts to public broadcasters, political interference involving media ownership, investigations targeting journalists and restrictions on reporters’ access to government institutions. Its 2026 regional assessment describes a “systematic weaponisation of state institutions.” RSF also points to violence against journalists covering protests and the detention and later deportation of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara.
The Index primarily measures the calendar year before publication — 2025 for the 2026 edition — though RSF can incorporate prepublication changes. Later disputes therefore illustrate a continuing conflict rather than all serving as causes of the ranking.
In July, the Justice Department subpoenaed New York Times journalists who had reported on security concerns involving the Qatari-donated aircraft being used as Air Force One. Agents delivered some subpoenas to reporters’ homes and prosecutors sought phone and text records. After U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian sharply questioned the demands, the department withdrew them.
Judge Subramanian said the dispute raised “profound First Amendment and free press issues.”
