The next decade will be determinative for the future of journalism, according to the new 2020 World Press Freedom Index,“Entering a decisive decade for journalism, exacerbated by coronavirus”. The COVID-19 pandemic worsens crises that pose a threat to the right to freedom of the press and independent, varied and reliable information.

Reporters without Borders publishes an annual index to communicate the status of press freedom worldwide. A clear correlation was visible this year between violations of press freedom in response to the corona virus pandemic and a country’s standing in the index.
“The public health crisis provides authoritarian governments with an opportunity to (…) take advantage of the fact that politics are on hold, the public is stunned and protests are out of the question, in order to impose measures that would be impossible in normal times,” says RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.