Latvia ranks in 15th position in 2025, down on the 13th place it won in 2024.
Near neighbours Lithuania ranked 14th and Estonia ranked 2nd, just behind world leader Norway in a top twenty dominated by European countries, with the exceptions of New Zealand (16) and Trinidand and Tobago (19).
“Latvian journalists work in a fairly free and safe environment, but access to reliable and pluralistic information, especially by the Russian-speaking population, is a real problem,” said RSF.
Nevertheless, Latvia remains well ahead of such countries as the United Kingdom (20), Canada (21), Spain (23), France (25), Poland (31) and the United States (57).
“Latvian media enjoy independence, and investigative and analytical journalism thrives, allowing the media to hold politicians accountable. Although state-held information is generally accessible, transparency has suffered from restrictions due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The media regulator has been accused of lacking independence from the government. Certain decisions to ban media and some controversial government initiatives, such as the new national security doctrine, one of whose objectives is to stop the broadcasting of public media in Russian in 2026, demonstrate the increased influence of security services over media regulation,” said RSF’s summary.
Over all, the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the Index.
“At a time when press freedom is experiencing a worrying decline in many parts of the world, a major — yet often underestimated — factor is seriously weakening the media: economic pressure. Much of this is due to ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, and public aid that is restricted, absent or allocated in an opaque manner. The data measured by the RSF Index’s economic indicator clearly shows that today’s news media are caught between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival,” said RSF.
In December 2024, RSF announced it had revoked the membership of pro-Russia freelancer Alla Berezovskaya “following her deliberate misuse of the organisation’s name.” Berezovskaya worked for media outlets in Latvia linked to the Kremlin.
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