Land of the free? U.S. ranks 46th for press freedom

The United States was founded on many noble ideals, including the idea of freedom of the press.

But the freedom of the press — at least according to Reporters Without Borders — isn't as strong as it once was. The United States has fallen to 46th in the world, not only behind leaders Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, but also trailing a fair few countries you only hear about on Jeopardy!, like Suriname, Botswana, Latvia, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea.

Still, the United States is described as being in a "satisfactory situation," and ranks above its geopolitical adversaries like Russia and Iran:

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What knocked the U.S. down the list? Recent cases highlighted by Reporters Without Borders include that of Roger Shuler, an Alabama blogger who was forced to remove blog posts in order to be freed from jail, as well as the case of Jeremy Hammond, who was jailed for 10 years after hacking into the website of private intelligence company Stratfor.