Daniel Wolfram
Trump has landed in dubious company, as a watchdog and nonprofit organization has placed him on a list containing some of the most notorious world leaders.
Every year since 2002, the nonprofit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released an official report called the World Press Freedom Index. This index ranks 180 countries regarding how well press freedom is upheld.
This year, RSF has released the counterpart to its own list, called the Press Freedom Predators List. This ironic list tracks and highlights world leaders who purposely stifle press freedom.
On the list, there are notorious dictators from countries where being a member of the free press is often life-threatening. There is also another interesting addition: the President of the United States of America.
A notorious club
The watchdog has called out 33 global offenders.
This year, President Donald Trump officially joined the infamous list. RSF argues that his second term in the White House brought deliberate efforts to bend independent news into political messaging, dropping the United States to 64th place in global press rankings.
Therefore, he is a worthy addition to the Predators List against press freedom.
That hostility went far beyond harsh rhetoric against the “Fake News.” Just last month, Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from covering him in the White House. While a judge deemed the ban unconstitutional and restored access, Trump is still trying to ban the outlets from covering him.
Danger across borders
Trump joins the list alongside famous autocrats and dictators. Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega appeared once again, alongside the entire Chinese government, which RSF described as the world’s largest prison for journalists.
In Latin America, Mexican drug cartels keep spreading terror by killing nearly one reporter every month. Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities detained fact-checkers and shut down independent news outlet Mada Masr.
RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin compared the list to a dark version of the Razzies — Hollywood’s anti-Academy Awards where the worst acting performances are rewarded. “The Press Freedom Predators List is a bit like RSF’s version of the Razzies: a tongue-in-cheek honours list of the worst of the attacks and abuses directed at the press,” Bruttin stated.
Anti-press sentiments explode on social media
Social media has become a tool for stifling press freedom; Argentine President Javier Milei fired off more than 1,600 anti-media posts in just 47 days, while state-backed troll farms harassed reporters in India and Burkina Faso.
Still, a few well-known names did drop off the list. Iran’s Ali Khamenei and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro exited following death and imprisonment, while voters ousted leaders in Hungary and Serbia.
“Behind the statistics, the setbacks and the obstacles lie clear lines of responsibility. Whether they resort to physical or verbal violence, legal abuses, intimidation, digital manipulation of the facts or economic pressure, these predators share the same goal: to prevent journalists from doing their jobs and deprive citizens of information from independent sources,” Bruttin argues.
