World Press Freedom Day is an opportunity to celebrate what press freedom stands for as well as a chance to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives on the job. Given the proliferation of fake news, this year is especially important with the United Nations saying that “free, independent and professional journalism has never been more important due to media accountability and credibility coming under question”. 

According to a Gallup World Poll, the public perceptions of media freedom are highest in Western Europe and in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden in particular. When it comes to the places with the worst public perception of media freedom, the following infographic shows the countries where perception is lowest.

This chart shows the percentage of people agreeing that the media has a lot of freedom in 2016. 

Source: The Statistics Portal

 
• media freedom
 
• lowest
 
• opinion