Press freedoms slide across Americas: report

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MIAMI — Press freedom has suffered a "dramatic" decline in the Americas over the past year, with journalists killed, detained and forced into exile, a regional media organization said in its annual report Tuesday.

Of the 23 countries of the Western Hemisphere analyzed, Venezuela and Nicaragua were ranked as having no press freedom, while eight other countries, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and El Salvador, severely restricting it.

"This is one of the worst years for journalism in the region, marked by murders, arbitrary arrests, exile and rampant impunity," the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said, adding that the worsening restrictions were observed across governments of all political persuasions.

On the bright side, the Dominican Republic ranked first in the index as the only country on the continent with full freedom of expression, according to the study prepared by the IAPA together with the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas.

It was followed by Chile, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Panama, which had relatively few restrictions on the media in the period from November 2, 2024, to November 1, 2025.

The United States, meanwhile, experienced a "significant" decline in press freedom, sliding from the "low restriction" to "with restriction" category following "a stigmatization of critical journalism spaces" by President Donald Trump and his administration.

Adding to that was the dismissal of more than 500 employees from Voice of America, an international broadcasting service funded by the US government and the 170 attacks against journalists recorded in the United States.