The US is falling behind Ukraine in press freedom as the global autocracy takes hold

From watching too much Nordic noirI’ve learned the basic principles of Scandinavian safety: Stay out of the deep forests, avoid the “villagers,” run away from any solstice or equinox ritual, and run screaming from any creature (human or otherwise) wearing horns in the wrong anatomical position.

But assuming you can avoid pagan magic and “old gods,” the Nordic countries do well in many other areas of human development. In The latest World Happiness Reportfor example, Finland tops the list while Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are all ranked sixth. (Costa Rica is the only non-Nordic one here, taking fourth place.)

These countries too very close to international life.

They also have the most media freedom in the world.

Reporters Without Borders (or RSF, to use the initials of its French name, Reporters Sans Frontières) today released the book. 2026 its prestigious version of the World Press Freedom Indexand Norway continues to top the board for ten years. Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia are also in the top 10. Looking at the report’s map of the world, the Nordic region appears to be the most open place in the world for journalists; it is the only part of the map that will be marked in green.

RSF’s global press freedom map, 2026.

Credit: RSF

Unfortunately, freedom of the press has declined. According to RSF, for the first time in its history, “more than half of the world’s countries are now in the ‘critical’ or ‘critical’ categories. In 25 years, the average of all 180 countries and territories surveyed in the Index has been much lower than this.”