The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bhutan’s press freedom ranking has fallen by five positions, from 147th in 2024 to 152nd in 2025, according to the latest World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The ranking is for 180 countries.
Bhutan now ranks among those classified under a “difficult” press freedom situation.
The decline continues a worrying trend in recent years. Since 2022 when Bhutan ranked 33rd — the country has dropped a total of 119 places in just three years, one of the most significant declines globally over that period.
A major reason for the drop is very low scores in the country score on social indicator and economic indicator. This is followed by low scores in the political indicator and legislative indicator.
In the social indicator, it says self-censorship is one of the main problems: many journalists avoid covering sensitive issues for fear of appearing to challenge the social order. The ranking here is lowest at 174.
In the Economic indicator, it says privately owned publications survive in a difficult economic environment, with a relatively low readership and insufficient advertising, which, for the most part, comes from government agencies — they account for 80 percent of newspapers’ advertising revenue. The ranking here is 170.
In the legal indicator, it says the 2018 Information, Communications and Media Act confirmed the powers of the Bhutan Infocom and Media Authority (BICMA), a media regulator whose five members are directly appointed by the government. Journalists report difficulties getting access to state-held and governmental information, which ultimately deprives the population of information of public interest. The legal indicator ranking is 169.
In the political context, it says the alternation between the different political parties does not seem to have any impact on press freedom in the country, where self-censorship remains pervasive. The political ranking is 161.
The RSF Press Release says, “Of the five main indicators that determine the World Press Freedom Index, the indicator measuring the financial conditions of journalism and economic pressure on the industry dragged down the world’s overall score in 2025.”
The economic indicator in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index is at its lowest point in history, and the global situation is now considered “difficult.”
RSF says that in addition to the loss of advertising revenue, which has severely disrupted and constrained the media economy, media ownership concentration is another key factor in the deterioration of the Index’s economic indicator and poses a serious threat to media plurality.
Data from the Index shows that media ownership is highly concentrated in 46 countries and, in some cases, entirely controlled by the state.
The rankings are determined by media experts, who assess each country’s press freedom across five categories: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural environment, and safety of journalists.
They also consider data on violent incidents involving journalists, arrests, and restrictions on media. The report notes that no journalists or media workers have been killed in Bhutan, and no recorded incidents of violence against the press.
Among South Asian countries, Bhutan ranks below Nepal (90), the Maldives (104), Sri Lanka (139), and Bangladesh (149), but ahead of Pakistan (158), Myanmar (169), Afghanistan (175), and China (178). The top three countries in the 2025 Index are Norway (1st), Estonia (2nd), and the Netherlands (3rd).
Norway has retained the top position for the ninth consecutive year due to its strong legal protections for journalists, minimal government interference, and a highly independent media landscape. The country also benefits from low levels of violence against journalists and broad public support for press freedom, contributing to high scores across all five RSF indicators.
A significant contributor to Bhutan’s 2025 drop is the country’s economic indicator, one of the five categories used by RSF. The downturn in this area reflects the fragile financial environment media houses operate within, further affecting their sustainability and autonomy.
RSF Editorial Director, Anne Bocandé, said, “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. …. Solutions exist and must be deployed on a large scale. The media’s financial independence is a necessary condition for ensuring free, trustworthy information that serves the public interest.”
According to data collected by RSF for the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, in 160 out of the 180 countries assessed, media outlets achieve financial stability “with difficulty” — or “not at all.”
Worse, news outlets are shutting down due to economic hardship in nearly a third of countries globally.
RSF says serious funding cuts are an additional blow to a media economy already weakened by the dominance that tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have over the dissemination of information. These largely unregulated platforms are absorbing an ever-growing share of advertising revenues that would usually support journalism. Total spending on advertising through social media reached USD 247.3 billion in 2024 which is 14 percent increase compared to 2023.
These online platforms further hamper the information space by contributing to the spread of manipulated and misleading content, amplifying disinformation.
