Freedom of the Press 2012

Freedom House released the findings of , its annual press freedom survey, at a press conference held in front of the World Press Freedom map at the Newseum.

David Kramer, president of Freedom House, and Karin Deutsch Karlekar, project director for the Freedom of the Press survey, highlighted key developments in global press freedom over the last year, including the ramifications of the Arab Spring. Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya all showed significant improvements in terms of press freedom. Other countries, including Bahrain and Syria, cracked down on media in an attempt to quell Arab Spring protest movements. Despite harsh crackdowns in authoritarian states, global media freedom did not experience an overall decline for the first time in eight years. However, due to downgrades in previously “Free” countries, the percentage of the world's population living in countries with a free press has fallen to the lowest level in over a decade.