Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently issued the 23^rd edition of the World Press Freedom Index in which it ranked 180 countries across the globe according to their press freedom levels. More particularly, countries were assigned scores ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 being the worst possible score and 100 the best. More specifically, scores were grouped as follows: [0 – 40[: “very serious”, [40 - 55[: “difficult”, [55 – 70[: “problematic”, [70 – 85[: “satisfactory”, and [85 – 100]: “good”. RSF revealed that its’ methodology for the index centers around five indicators, namely “political context”, “legal framework”, “economic context”, “sociocultural context”, and “safety”. In this vein, RSF indicated that 42 countries were categorized as having “very bad” press freedom in the 2025 index, 48 were labeled as having “difficult” press freedom, 48 were classified as having “problematic” press freedom, 35 countries were grouped under “satisfactory” press freedom, and 7 were screened as having “good” press freedom. Furthermore, RSF revealed that 200 individuals (including 131 journalists and 5 media workers) were killed in the year 2025, in comparison with 56 in 2024. In detail, RSF unveiled that the Europe – Central Asia region suffered from an “unprecedented” economic crisis in 2025 aggravated by the sudden halt of American aid and the increasing influence of Russian propaganda. More specifically, the RSF noted that circa 90% of newsrooms in Ukraine (global rank: 62; score: 63.93) were surviving due to subsidies mostly from the US. The withdrawal of said subsidies, however, has threatened the reliable coverage of the war. When it comes to the Americas (North, Central and South), the RSF report pointed out that journalism continues to encounter structural and economic challenges, with 22 of the regions’ 28 countries witnessing a drop in their economic indicators. The Asia-Pacific region suffered the second worst freedom levels, with 20 out of 32 countries reporting a drop in their 2025 press freedom scores. The RSF commented that the MENA region remains the most dangerous in the world for journalists with every country (with the exception of Qatar) having a press freedom situation of either “difficult” or “very serious”. With regards to the ranking, RSF revealed that Norway topped the list of countries for yet another year with a press freedom score of 92.31, followed by Estonia (with a score of 89.46), the Netherlands (with a score of 88.64), Sweden (with a score of 88.13), and Finland (with a score of 87.18). Qatar ranked first in the MENA region and 79^th in the world in the 2025 press freedom index with a score of 58.25, followed by Morocco which scored 48.04 and occupied the 120^th place in the world, Algeria (3^rd regionally and 126^th globally; score of 44.64) and Kuwait (4^th regionally and 128^th globally; score of 44.06). Locally, Lebanon ranked 132^nd in the world and 6^th in the MENA region in the 2025 press freedom index with a score of 42.62, compared to a score of 41.91 and a world rank of 140^th in the 2024 edition of the press freedom index. The RSF noted that the amelioration in Lebanon’s score and rank owes to the ceasefire agreement with Israel since the last quarter of 2024 and the formation of a new government in early 2025 that promised stability following years of political & economic deadlock, which could present an opportunity for the press to recover. Delving further into details, Lebanon scored 46.74 in the political indicator metric (global rank: 86), 48.64 in the legal framework indicator (global rank: 123), 30.31 in the economic context indicator (global rank: 154), 43.41 in the socio-cultural indicator (global rank: 138), and 43.99 in the safety indicator (global rank: 132).