Europe Central, Northern, and Western Europe have a long tradition of freedom of speech, including freedom of the press, which yet exists in the 18th century and in the 19th century. German Enlightenment writer
Christoph Martin Wieland argued in 1788 that "press freedom is the ultimate bulwark of humanity" and that restrictions beyond general criminal law would lead to its "gradual erosion", emphasizing that "science, literature, and the printing press... belong to no single nation, but to all mankind". After World War II,
Hugh Baillie, the president of the
United Press wire service based in the U.S., promoted freedom of news dissemination. In 1944, he called for an open system of news sources and transmission, and a minimum of government regulation of the news. His proposals were aired at the Geneva Conference on Freedom of Information in 1948 but were blocked by the Soviets and the French. Since 1950, the
European Convention on Human Rights includes "Article 10" related to Freedom of expression which applies to
Member states of the Council of Europe. Media freedom is a
fundamental right that applies to all
member states of the
European Union and its
citizens, as defined in the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (since 2000) as well as the European Convention on Human Rights (since 1950). Within the
EU enlargement process, guaranteeing media freedom is named a "key indicator of a country's readiness to become part of the EU".
United Kingdom According to the
New York Times, "Britain has a long tradition of a free, inquisitive press", but "[u]nlike the United States, Britain has no constitutional guarantee of press freedom". Freedom of the press was established in Great Britain in 1695, with
Alan Rusbridger, former editor of
The Guardian, stating: "When people talk about licensing journalists or newspapers the instinct should be to refer them to history. Read about how licensing of the press in Britain was abolished in 1695. Remember how the freedoms won here became a model for much of the rest of the world, and be conscious of how the world still watches us to see how we protect those freedoms". 's 1644 edition of
Areopagitica Until 1694, Great Britain had an elaborate system of
licensing; the most recent was seen in the
Licensing of the Press Act, 1662. No publication was allowed without the accompaniment of a government-granted license. Fifty years earlier, at a time of
civil war,
John Milton wrote his
pamphlet Areopagitica (1644). In this work Milton argued forcefully against this form of government censorship and parodied the idea, writing "when as debtors and delinquents may walk abroad without a keeper, but inoffensive books must not stir forth without a visible jailer in their title". Although at the time it did little to halt the practice of licensing, it would be viewed later a significant milestone as one of the most eloquent defenses of
press freedom. In the
Victorian era, the press became more influential than it had been previously, to the dismay of some readers.
Thomas Carlyle, in his essay "
Signs of the Times" (1829), said that the "true
Church of England, at this moment, lies in the Editors of its Newspapers. These preach to the people daily, weekly; admonishing kings themselves; advising peace or war, with an authority which only the first
Reformers, and a long-past class of
Popes, were possessed of". Similarly,
Charles Dickens, in his
Pickwick Papers (1837), caricatured the newspapers as but the "chosen organ and representative" of either the
Whigs or the
Tories, and that they were "essentially and indispensably necessary" to the parties' operations.
John Stuart Mill in 1869 in his book
On Liberty approached the problem of authority versus liberty from the viewpoint of a 19th-century
utilitarian: The individual has the right of expressing himself so long as he does not harm other individuals. The good society is one in which the greatest number of persons enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness. Applying these general principles of liberty to freedom of expression, Mill states that if we silence an opinion, we may silence the truth. The individual freedom of expression is therefore essential to the well-being of society. Mill wrote: :If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and one, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. The December 1817 Trials of writer and satirist
William Hone for publishing three political pamphlets is considered a landmark in the fight for a free press.
Denmark–Norway Between 4 September 1770 and 7 October 1771 the kingdom of
Denmark–Norway had the most unrestricted freedom of press of any country in Europe. This occurred during the regime of
Johann Friedrich Struensee, whose second act was to abolish the old censorship laws. However, due to the great amount of mostly anonymous pamphlets published that was critical and often slanderous towards Struensee's own regime, he reinstated some restrictions regarding the freedom of press a year later, 7 October 1771. After the
abolition of the monarchy in 1946 and the
abrogation of the Statute in 1948, the
Constitution of the
Republic of Italy guarantees the freedom of the press, as stated in Article 21, Paragraphs 2 and 3: The Constitution allows the
warrantless confiscation of
periodicals in cases of absolute urgency, when the
Judiciary cannot timely intervene, on the condition that a
judicial validation must be obtained within 24 hours. Article 21 also gives restrictions against those publications considered offensive by
public morality, as stated in Paragraph 6:
Nazi Germany (1933–1945) '
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was a driving force of suppressing freedom of the press in Nazi Germany. In 1933, freedom of the press was suppressed in
Nazi Germany by the
Reichstag Fire Decree of President
Paul von Hindenburg, just as
Adolf Hitler was coming to power. Hitler suppressed freedom of the press through
Joseph Goebbels'
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The Ministry acted as a central control point for all media, issuing orders as to what stories could be run and what stories would be suppressed. Anyone involved in the film industry, from directors to the lowliest assistant, had to sign an oath of loyalty to the
Nazi Party due to the opinion-changing power Goebbels perceived movies to have; Goebbels himself maintained some personal control over every single film made in Nazi Europe. Journalists who crossed the Propaganda Ministry were routinely imprisoned.
Sweden One of the world's first freedom of the press acts was introduced in Sweden in 1766 (
Swedish Freedom of the Press Act), due in part to
classical liberal member of parliament,
Ostrobothnian priest,
Anders Chydenius. However, the ordinance had been a long time in the making. The first proposal to abolish censorship was presented to the Riksdag as early as 1727 by Anders Bachmanson (later ennobled as Nordencrantz), a member of the burgher estate. Excepted and liable to prosecution in the 1766 act was only vocal opposition to the
king and the
Church of Sweden. The act was largely rolled back after
King Gustav's coup d'état in 1772, restored after the overthrowing of his son,
Gustav IV of Sweden in 1809, and fully recognized with the abolition of the king's prerogative to cancel licenses in the 1840s.
Russia s, including journalists
Ivan Safronov and
Maria Ponomarenko, 2024 The US Secretary of State,
Mike Pompeo, criticized Russia for limiting the activities of
VOA and
Radio Free Europe in Russia with a governmental order demanding reviewing the subject by Moscow. On 4 March 2022, Russian President
Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing
prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations in Ukraine, forcing independent media in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or cease operations. At least 1,000 Russian journalists have fled Russia since February 2022. About 85% of Russians get most of their information from Russian state-controlled media.
Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief
Dmitry Muratov was awarded the
2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression". In March 2022,
Novaya Gazeta suspended its print activities after receiving a second warning from the Russian censorship apparatus
Roskomnadzor. On 17 June 2024, a Moscow court issued arrest warrants for
IStories editor-in-chief and award-winning investigative reporter
Roman Anin and Ekaterina Fomina, a journalist at
TV Rain and a former
IStories correspondent, on charges of
disseminating "false information" about the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Russia's Interior Ministry added two
Russian journalists in exile to its wanted list. Fomina said the arrest warrant would affect her professional life as she would not be able to travel to many countries that could arrest her and extradite her to Russia.
Romania Until 1989, Romania was part of the
communist bloc as the
Socialist Republic of Romania. The communist regime heavily restricted freedom of the press and other civil liberties.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, though available to the Romanian citizenry, was highly illegal and severe repercussions for existed for listening. Directly following the
Romanian Revolution, post-communist corruption was largely the subject of investigative reports. At the same time, widespread violence against journalists began. During the
June 1990 Mineriad, a series of protests against the
National Salvation Front, counter-demonstrators assaulted reporting journalists. In 1992, President
Ion Iliescu had a nervous meltdown when called journalist
Paul Pârvu asked him if he felt guilt over Romanian deaths during the revolution. During the exchange, Iliescu referred to Pârvu as an "animal". Modern, major media outlets were founded during the mid-1990s, such as
Antena 1 in 1994 and
ProTV in 1995. In 1999, the editor of a
Ora, a local newspaper, Tiberiu Patru, was arrested before being able to publish an investigation of corruption in
Dolj County under. In response,
Ora moved its newsroom in front of the National Theater of Craiova to protest Patru's arrest. The 2000s saw the creation of many new media outlets across television, radio, and the traditional press. In 2023,
Reporters Without Borders identified safety as a concern for Romanian journalists.
Turkey on
Human Rights Day, 2016 More than 120 journalists remained in prison in Turkey in 2019, making it the most prolific incarcerator of journalists in the world. In some countries, including Turkey, journalists were threatened or
arrested for their
coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belarus was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2022. Since the 2000s, Reporters Without Borders have been ranking
Belarus below all other European countries in its
Press Freedom Index. Under the authoritarian president
Alexander Lukashenko, journalists like
Katsyaryna Andreeva and
Darya Chultsova have been arrested for their work. In May 2021, top news site
Tut.By which was read by circa 40% of internet users in Belarus was blocked and several its journalists were detained. In July 2021,
Nasha Niva, a news site, was blocked with simultaneous detention of the editors took place.
Czechia Current general manager of Czech Television Jan Souček has courted controversy in his tenure given his attack on free media and his attacks on employees of Czech Television. Souček compared himself to Milada Horáková after strong criticism of his managerial skills from Czech Television Council. Souček later commented that it was silly from him. In an interview on 5. 9. 2023 Souček, as the incoming director general, stated: "I am constantly asking for money. A press conference of the Ministry of Culture has been announced for Tuesday, where the ministerial commission should reveal how it envisions the reform of financing public service media. According to my information, our call will be heard for the most part." During his tenure, Souček constantly asks for more money from the public fees, however it seems that he is not able to use money economically while blacking out financial documents to hide it from the public.
Americas United States The
First Amendment of the United States Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Canada being interviewed in a
scrum, 2017 Section 2(b) of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that everyone has "the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication". The
open court principle ensures the
freedom of the press by requiring that court proceedings presumptively be open and accessible to the public and to the media.
Mexico was murdered, along with four women, in
Mexico City after fleeing death threats in Veracruz. In 2016, Reporters Without Borders ranked
Mexico 149 out of 180 in the
World Press Freedom Index, declaring Mexico to be "the world's most dangerous country for
journalists".
Guatemala See
Mass media in Guatemala Nicaragua See
Freedom of the press in Nicaragua and
Mass media in Nicaragua Argentina See History of Argentina#New democracy (1983–present) and
Mass media in Argentina Bolivia See
History of Bolivia (1982–present) and
Mass media in Bolivia Brazil See
History of Brazil (1985–present) Chile See
History of Chile (1990-) Colombia See History of Colombia#From 2004 and on and
Mass media in Colombia Ecuador See History of Ecuador#Instability (2000–2007)
Guyana See Guyana#UNASUR
Paraguay See History of Paraguay#Modern Paraguay and
Mass media in Paraguay Peru See
Freedom of the press in Peru and
Mass media in Peru Suriname See
History of Suriname's Independence Uruguay See History of Uruguay#Recent history and
Mass media in Uruguay Venezuela See
History of Venezuela (1999–present) and
Mass media in Venezuela Asia Azerbaijan 's editor-in-chief
Sevinj Vagifgizi was sentenced to 9 years in prison in June 2025. According to Reporters Without Borders,
Azerbaijan's President
Ilham Aliyev launched "a new wave of fierce repression against the country’s last remaining journalists" in late 2023. Journalists from the independent
Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and
Meydan TV were prosecuted in 2024 and 2025 in trials that international human rights organizations described as unfair. The long prison sentences for seven journalists from Abzas Media are widely seen as retaliation for the outlet's investigations into
corruption in the family of Ilham Aliyev and his inner circle.
Bahrain According to Reporters without Borders, a number of reporters in
Bahrain were jailed. Some were also tortured or were exiled.
Iran According to the reports of the RSF in 2007, the
freedom of the press in Iran ranked 166 among 169 states. The report reads the Iranian journalists face the "extreme harsh behavior of the Iranian regime that prevents them criticizing authorities or expressing political and social demands. After a
Ukrainian airliner was shot down in 2020 by the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, agents of the
Iranian Ministry of Intelligence raided the houses and offices of many Iranian journalists seeking for their PCs, cell phones, books, and documents. These journalists had revealed the lies of the Iranian regime. Some of the journalists received warnings by the authorities and were forced to shut down their accounts in Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Demanding promotion of the global Freedom of Media, in December 1993, UNESCO called 3 April as "International day for Freedom of Media". This is while the RSF reported at least 860 journalists have been detained and imprisoned from 1979 to 2009 in Iran. On 21 April 2020,
Paris-based
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual press
freedom rankings that the pandemic was "highlighting many crises" already casting a shadow on
press freedom, around the world, with authoritarian states including Iran suppressing details of the outbreak. RSF accused Iran in 173rd place of censoring major coronavirus outbreaks. On 7 February 2020, the International Federation of Journalists in a statement condemned "raiding of Iranian Security Forces upon the houses of six Iranian journalists, holding the forces of "IRGC's Intelligence" responsible for recent pressures on the journalists. The secretary-general of the federation, Anthony Blunker, said that intimidating and threatening journalists are unpleasant tools to silence the public opinion of the administration. On 26 November 2019, the RSF condemned the pressure on families of reporters by the Iranian regime, saying Iran ranked 170 among 180 states regarding Freedom of Press in 2019. In its 2019 annual report, the Committee to Protect Journalists found at least 250 journalists in jail in relation to their work and stated that the number of imprisoned journalists in Iran was 11, citing the crackdown on protests by the Iranian people over rising gasoline prices. The report named Eritrea, Vietnam and Iran as "the worst prisons for journalists" after China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. On 8 September 2020,
Reporters Without Borders expressed concern over the continued detention and repression of journalists in Iran, and warned about the treatment of journalists and reporters who had been subjected to harassment. "The
Human Rights Council must take more serious action to protect and defend journalists", said an official.
Human Rights Watch condemned the punishment of the
death penalty and demanded that it be prevented at all costs, following the 12 December execution of an Iranian dissident on vague charges. Rouhallah Zam, the founder of Telegram channel
Amadnews, was allegedly detained when he was visiting Iran in October 2019. He was deported forcibly to Iran and convicted of vague national security charges, as per Human Rights Watch. Zam faced trial for his ‘activism’ after being deported to Iran. The Iranian Supreme Court confirmed his verdict on 8 December and the journalist was executed on 12 December.
Palestine and Israel 's Gaza correspondent
Hossam Shabat was assassinated by the
IDF on 24 March 2025. In October 2019, the
Palestinian Authority blocked 59 websites, claiming that they were critical of the government. These websites were both Palestinian and Arabic and were identified to have been publishing material that "threaten national security and civil peace". Quds News Network, among the blocked sites, stated that the move reflected the Palestinian Authority's repression of the press. In 2023, nearly 75% of journalists killed worldwide were Palestinians who had died in
Israel’s
war in Gaza. According to the
Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel was the second worst country in the world for allowing the murderers of journalists to go unpunished.
UNESCO awarded its 2024 World Press Freedom Prize to the Palestinian journalists of
Gaza.
China Critics argue that the
Chinese Communist Party has failed to live up to its promises about the freedom of the
mainland Chinese media.
Freedom House consistently ranks China as 'Not Free' in its annual press freedom survey, including the 2014 report. PRC journalist
He Qinglian says that the PRC's media are controlled by directives from the Communist Party's propaganda department and are subjected to intense monitoring which threatens punishment for violators, rather than to pre-publication censorship. In 2008,
ITV News reporter John Ray was arrested while covering a 'Free Tibet' protest. International media coverage of Tibetan protests only a few months before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 triggered a strong reaction inside China. Chinese media practitioners took the opportunity to argue with propaganda authorities for more media freedom: one journalist asked, 'If not even Chinese journalists are allowed to report about the problems in Tibet, how can foreign journalists know about the Chinese perspective about the events?' Foreign journalists also reported that their access to certain websites, including those of human rights organizations, was restricted.
International Olympic Committee president
Jacques Rogge stated at the end of the 2008 Olympic Games that "The regulations [governing foreign media freedom during the Olympics] might not be perfect but they are a sea-change compared to the situation before. We hope that they will continue". The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) issued a statement during the Olympics that 'despite welcome progress in terms of accessibility and the number of press conferences within the Olympic facilities, the FCCC has been alarmed at the use of violence, intimidation and harassment outside. The club has confirmed more than 30 cases of reporting interference since the formal opening of the Olympic media centre on 25 July, and is checking at least 20 other reported incidents. Since the Chinese state continues to exert a considerable amount of control over media, public support for domestic reporting has come as a surprise to many observers. Not much is known about the extent to which the Chinese citizenry believe the official statements of the CPC, nor about which media sources they perceive as credible and why. So far, research on the media in China has focused on the changing relationship between media outlets and the state during the reform era. Nor is much known about how China's changing media environment has affected the government's ability to persuade media audiences. Research on political trust reveals that exposure to the media correlates positively with support for the government in some instances, and negatively in others. The research has been cited as evidence that the Chinese public believes propaganda transmitted to them through the news media, but also that they disbelieve it. In 2012 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Chinese government to lift restrictions on media access to the region and allow independent and impartial monitors to visit and assess conditions in Tibet. The Chinese government did not change its position.
Pakistan Article 19 of the constitution of the Pakistan states that: "Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, commission of or incitement to an offence". Since independence the electronic media in Pakistan remained dominated by the state-run Pakistan Television and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporations. Ironically, press freedom in Pakistan flourished for the first time in 2002 during Gen.
Pervez Musharraf's era. To a large extent the media enjoys freedom of expression in spite of political pressure and direct bans sometimes administered by political stake holders. Political pressure on media is mostly done indirectly. One tool widely used by the government is to cut off 'unfriendly' media from governmental advertising. Using draconian laws, the government has also banned or officially silenced popular television channels. The
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has been used to silence the broadcast media by either suspending licenses or by simply threatening to do so. In addition, media is also threatened by non-state actors involved in the current conflict. In its 2018
Press Freedom Index,
Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan number 139 out of 180 countries based on freedom of the press. The report implied considerable improvement in the freedom of press compared to the preceding years.
Malaysia The press in Malaysia is controlled and journalists cannot have a conversation about certain things. For instance, a British reporter in Malaysia was arrested after she reported on the
1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal and published details of the alleged transfer of $681 million from 1MDB to bank accounts held by
Najib Razak.
Singapore Singapore's media environment is considered to be controlled by the government.
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia does not tolerate dissidents and it can impose penalties on such people. Saudi Arabia is also responsible for executing
Saudi American journalist,
Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. As he entered a Saudi embassy in Turkey, a group of Saudi assassins killed him. (PoTA) have been used to limit press freedom. Under PoTA, person could be detained for up to six months for being in contact with a terrorist or terrorist group. PoTA was repealed in 2006, but the Official Secrets Act 1923 continues. For the first half-century of independence, media control by the state was the major constraint on press freedom.
Indira Gandhi famously stated in 1975 that
All India Radio is "a Government organ, it is going to remain a Government organ..." With the liberalization starting in the 1990s, private control of media has burgeoned, leading to increasing independence and greater scrutiny of government. It ranks poorly at 142nd rank out of 180 listed countries in the
Press Freedom Index 2021 released by
Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Analytically India's press freedom, as could be deduced by the
Press Freedom Index, has constantly reduced since 2002, when it culminated in terms of apparent freedom, achieving a rank of 80 among the reported countries. In 2018, India's freedom of press ranking declined two placed to 138. In explaining the decline, RSF cited growing intolerance from
Hindu nationalist supporters of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, and the murders of journalists such as
Gauri Lankesh.
Bangladesh Bangladeshi media is reportedly following self-censorship due to the controversial Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. Under this act, 25 journalists and several hundred bloggers and Facebook users are reportedly prosecuted in Bangladesh in 2017. Bangladesh ranks poorly at 146th rank out of 180 listed countries in the
Press Freedom Index 2018 released by
Reporters Without Borders (RWB). During the
road-safety protests in 2018, Bangladeshi government switched off 3G and 4G mobile data and also arrested a photographer named
Shahidul Alam under ICT act, after he had given an interview with
Al Jazeera.
Japan In Japan's system, the Japanese government excludes foreign media outlets and freelance journalists from briefings, giving the
kisha clubs (journalists mainly from Japan's mainstream media) the right to use primary sources. Also, the elite group of journalists provides a mechanism whereby politicians threaten to block journalists from briefings if their report is critical of the government. The clubs are considered to be one of the reasons why Japan came bottom among the G7 nations and was ranked 68th in the world in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
Africa Tanzania As of 2018, online content providers
must be licensed and pay an annual fee to the government.
South Africa Following the transition to democracy in 1994, the post-apartheid
Constitution of South Africa guarantees the freedom of the press. ==Implications of new technologies==