Global press freedom has continued its decline, now at its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 due to unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies, intensified crackdowns by authoritarian states, and moves by Russia and China to increase their influence beyond their borders, according to Freedom of the Press 2017, the latest edition of Freedom House’s annual report on media freedom worldwide.
Some of the steepest declines on the report’s 100-point scale occurred in Poland, Turkey, and Hungary. The situation in Hungary and Turkey has been deteriorating for several years, but the sharp drop in Poland is …read more