Human Rights:
Press Freedom in the Middle East

The World Press Freedom Index is to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories. Press freedom is defined as “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.”

The Index’s rankings are based on a score ranging from 0 to 100 that is assigned to each country or territory, with 100 being the best possible score (the highest possible level of press freedom) and 0 the worst.

This score is calculated on the basis of two components:

• a quantitative tally of abuses against journalists in connection with their work, and against media outlets;
• a qualitative analysis of the situation in each country or territory based on the responses of press freedom specialists (including journalists, researchers, academics and human rights defenders) to an RSF questionnaire available in 23 languages.

The following table shows how Middle East countries rank.

Source: Reporters Without Borders.