Global press freedom has entered a danger zone, according to Reporters without Borders (RSF), a leading media watchdog group. The organization has classified media independence around the globe as being in a “difficult situation” for the first time in its history of publishing its annual press freedom index.

RSF’s index for 2025 identified “economic pressure” on independent media outlets as a major concern, stating “the economic indicator on the RSF World Press Freedom Index now stands at an unprecedented, critical low.”

“Guaranteeing freedom, independence and plurality in today’s media landscape requires stable and transparent financial conditions. Without economic independence, there can be no free press,” an RSF statement quoted the organization’s editorial director, Anne Bocandé, as saying.

The cutoff of US foreign assistance via the US Agency for International Development and other government-connected entities has had a devastating impact on the operational capacity of independent media outlets across the Caucasus and Central Asia. Media executives in the region have compared the US action to an “extinction-level” event. Against this backdrop, authoritarian-minded governments in the region, most notably Georgia’s, have moved to restrict the flow of fact-based information.

Georgia has experienced a steep decline in the RSF index, falling from 60th place in 2021 to 114th out of 180 countries surveyed in this year’s rankings. Kyrgyzstan experienced the steepest year-on-year decline, dropping 24 spots to come in at 144th in 2025. The four other Central Asian states, along with Azerbaijan, all ranked among the bottom quarter of countries in the index.

Armenia was the region’s sole bright spot in the RSF standings, moving up nine places over 2024’s rank to now stand at 34th, ahead of the United States.

“Despite a pluralistic environment, the media remain polarized,” the RSF index stated about Armenia. “The country is facing an unprecedented level of disinformation and hate speech fed by internal political tension, security problems at the country’s borders and the country’s complicated position between Russia and the European Union.”

Along with releasing the index, RSF issued a call for a global New Deal to ensure media diversity and the wide circulation of factual information. Among the 11 points comprising the RSF’s New Deal plan are a call for governments to adopt rules buttressing “the principle that companies have a responsibility to help uphold democracy, similar to corporate social responsibility (CSR),” and the introduction of a tax on tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, “to redistribute all or part of the revenue unfairly captured by digital giants to the detriment of the media.”