Truly, thanks for your response - I understand now that it does seem to be one of the major factors that goes into their ranking.
I guess my problem is that I just feel like ranking press freedom is flawed when things are this fucked. Here in the US, whistleblowers are persecuted or killed, accurate and unbiased reporting of events feels like it almost never happens, omission of newsworthy events is rampant, an oligarch is directly controlling speech in their outlet, independent journalism is at the behest of a few corporations that have total control of the algorithms and the platforms that these journalists rely on, a couple corporations own the entirety of all mainstream media… I could go on, but I’d just be preaching to the choir in all likelihood.
I’m glad that the few (independent or otherwise) journalists aren’t dying in droves here. They just get fired or silenced through various mechanisms if they report on anything that goes against the grain.
100%. I’m hopeful that with increased awareness more people will wake up to the reality at hand and take action. There has to be a breaking point where people finally realize they are being manipulated to be polarized, outraged, fearful, hateful, etc. by an uncaring apparatus that just wants to maintain the status quo (or whatever their particular agenda is) and steal their attention, largely.