Press Freedom in the Americas Saw ‘Dramatic Deterioration’ in 2025, Watchdog Reports

Press freedom across the Americas experienced a “dramatic deterioration” in 2025, marked by homicides, arbitrary arrests, and widespread impunity for crimes against journalists, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) warned in its annual Chapultepec Index released Tuesday.

The Miami-based organization, which has tracked media freedoms since 2020 across 23 countries in the Western Hemisphere, described 2025 as one of the worst years on record for the profession.

Venezuela and Nicaragua were classified as countries “without freedom of speech.” Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and El Salvador fell into the “high restriction” category. Canada, Brazil, Chile, and Panama were ranked as having “low restrictions,” while the United States was placed in the “restrictions” category due to 170 documented attacks on journalists in 2025.

The report highlighted concerns over poor government action against disinformation in the U.S., alongside measures perceived as limiting free expression and access to information. It noted that President Donald Trump and White House officials had “stigmatized” critical media outlets.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported 13 journalists murdered in Latin America in 2025—nearly double the seven killings recorded in 2024. CPJ Latin America coordinator Cristina Zahar said press freedom and democracy in the region had suffered “important setbacks,” with deliberate attacks by public agencies aimed at delegitimizing journalism. She added that anti-terrorism laws, cybercrime statutes, and regulations targeting nonprofits were increasingly used to criminalize media work.

The IAPA linked the rise in attacks to the emergence of “authoritarian presidents” in several countries. In Venezuela, “self-censorship” became the norm, with local media providing almost no coverage of opposition leader María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize due to fear of reprisals. In Nicaragua, censorship was described as “institutionalized,” with constitutional reforms placing all branches of government under presidential control.

El Salvador was flagged for “high restrictions,” with officials using lawsuits and criminal investigations to intimidate journalists. The report documented 180 attacks on media workers between May and July. In Ecuador, 290 acts of aggression were recorded, including four murders allegedly by criminal gangs, and one journalist was shot in the shoulder by police during an Indigenous-led protest.

Haiti appeared in the index for the first time and was ranked among the countries with the least press freedom in the Americas. Two journalists were killed by gang members during the reopening of a hospital in Port-au-Prince in 2024, and impunity remains pervasive in areas controlled by gangs that have waged intimidation campaigns against media.

The IAPA, representing more than 1,300 news organizations, promotes press freedom throughout the Americas and compiles the Chapultepec Index to assess conditions for journalists and media outlets in the region.