Growing distrust between gov’t officials and media noted as ...
Jamaica slips in World Press Freedom Index
Published:Friday | May 2, 2025 | 12:17 AM
Jamaica has slipped two places on the World Press Freedom Index, now ranking 26th out of 180 countries.
Despite the decline, it remains the second-highest ranked Caribbean nation, behind Trinidad and Tobago, which climbed six places to 19th and now leads the region.
The 23rd annual World Press Freedom Index, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to mark the May 3 observation of World Press Freedom Day, continues to spotlight global media conditions. Norway retained its top position while North Korea remained last at 180th.
The report noted that while Jamaica has seen improvements in press freedom over the past two decades, a growing mistrust between the media and government officials is eroding institutional respect for the press.
“There is a growing gulf of distrust between government officials and the media that has contributed to a decline in institutional respect for press freedom,” the report stated.
Additionally, RSF highlighted that while physical threats to journalists remain a visible issue, economic pressure has become a more significant threat to media freedom. It further noted that the economic indicator on the RSF World Press Freedom Index now stands at an unprecedented and critical low as its decline continued in 2025.
“As a result, the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the index,” the report indicated.
Financial pressure
Economic pressure, it said, is one of the factors seriously weakening the media. Ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, restricted public aid, absent or allocated in an opaque manner, is largely blamed in part for contributing to the economic pressure.
Anne Bocande, RSF editorial director, said: “Guaranteeing freedom, independence, and plurality in today’s media landscape requires stable and transparent financial conditions. Without economic independence, there can be no press freedom.
“When news media are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audiences at the expense of quality reporting and can fall prey to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them,” Bocande added.