How free is the UK press, really? New ranking reveals the worrying truth

We Brits generally like to think we have a good free press – it’s one of the things many of us are pretty chuffed with about the UK.

But our media does not have as much freedom of speech as you might think.

The 2014 World Press Freedom Index has revealed that the UK ranks just 33^{rd in} the world.

Reporters Without Borders, which publishes the index, cites a couple of the most alarming actions the UK government has taken against press freedom, such as:

• Destroying The Guardian’s hard disks, which contained information from Edward Snowden about GCHQ
• The detention of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who worked with Snowden, at Heathrow Airport under the Terrorism Act
• The potential impact of the new Royal Charter regulating the press (the full impact will be assessed in the 2015 report)

Reporters Without Borders gave a strong warning with its explanation for ranking the UK 33^rd: “By identifying journalism with terrorism with such disturbing ease, the UK authorities are following one of the most widespread practices of authoritarian regimes.”

Finland came first in the index, and you can see the full results here.

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