Bhutan’s press freedom ranking, as assessed by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), fell this year too, putting Bhutan on the 152nd position, amongst the 180 countries assessed. The significant drop in press freedom has led to calls for a comprehensive review of Bhutan’s media landscape by journalists, editors, and even the government. In a question send over e-mail by the paper, RSF responded and cited the main reasons behind Bhutan’s fall in the rankings.
“The score is falling in Bhutan due to the problem of viability of independent media and an advertising model favoring public outlets, restrictive laws criminalizing criticism of the power, opaque and obstructed access to public information, absence of strong political measures to improve press freedom, among other issues,” RSF said, when asked about the main reasons for the fall in the ranking.
According to RSF, the “RSF’s World Press Freedom Index is based on a rigorous methodology combining quantitative and qualitative data.” “Each country is assessed across five indicators: Political context, Legal framework, Economic context, Sociocultural context, and Safety. For each, RSF uses a detailed questionnaire comprising about 125 questions answered by media professionals, researchers, academics, and human rights defenders.”
For the safety indicator, the responses are supplemented by data from RSF’s own monitoring of press freedom violations (which compose one third of the safety indicator).
RSF’s Press Freedom Index assesses also whether journalists can freely cover key issues such as climate change, corruption or inequality – without censorship, self censorship or pressure. It also looks at how media systems adapt to challenges like disinformation and the ethical use of emerging tools, including artificial intelligence.
On questions concerning respondents, RSF said that for reasons of safety and impartiality, RSF maintains strict confidentiality around the identities of its respondents. “Participants of the surveys globally can include for instance journalists, researchers, lawyers, NGO representatives familiar with media conditions. RSF ensures that respondents are chosen based on their expertise and familiarity with the media landscape.”
According to RSF, in 2025, Bhutan’s press freedom scores experienced declines across four of the five key indicators, indicating a worsening environment for media independence. Specifically, the political context saw a decrease of 5.17 points, reflecting increased political pressures or limitations. The legal framework and economic context both suffered significant setbacks, each dropping by 8.70 points, suggesting deteriorations in legal protections for press freedom and economic conditions affecting media operations. The sociocultural context experienced the most substantial decline, with a loss of 9.40 points, pointing to greater societal or cultural constraints on media activities. The only area of improvement was safety, which increased by 8.60 points, indicating a relative absence of physical threats to journalists or media personnel. Overall, these declines contributed to Bhutan’s lower ranking and its classification as a country with a “difficult” press freedom situation.
The RSF said that a continued decline of press freedom in a country threatens democratic institutions, undermines transparency, and erodes public trust. It may deter journalists from entering the profession, shrink pluralism, and concentrate information in government-aligned platforms, weakening the role of the media as a public watchdog.
When asked about ways through which Bhutan’s ranking would improve, RSF said there should be equitable distribution of public advertising. “Ensure equitable distribution of public advertising. Supporting both public and private media fairly, which is not the case at the moment, as public media are favored.”
The need to promote editorial independence: especially of state owned outlets, reviewing restrictive laws on criticism of the power, enhancing transparency and access to public information and strengthening media viability through diverse funding sources and supportive public policy were highlighted.
Sangay Rabten Katmandu, Nepal
