April 30, 2026 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Georgia has fallen 21 places in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2026 to rank 135th out of 180 countries and territories, down from 114th in the previous year, marking a total drop of 75 positions over the past 25 years.

According to RSF, a Paris-based press freedom watchdog, more than half of the world’s countries fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories in 2026, with the organization noting that the average global score “has never been so low” in 25 years. Georgia is also classified as a “difficult” country.

The Index, published on April 30, comes amid a restrictive environment for critical and independent media in Georgia, as part of a broader government crackdown on dissent. It also comes while journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, founder and director of the Batumelebi and Netgazeti online media outlets, remains in prison serving a two-year sentence.

“After more than a year of democratic crisis and crackdown on protests and their coverage, Georgia (135th) has fallen 21 places in the Index,” the organization said in its overview of Europe and Central Asia, adding, “The adoption and enforcement of restrictive laws – particularly on ‘foreign agents’ and media funding – and new barriers to accessing information point to a clear erosion of the rule of law.” In the Index’s general overview, Georgia is mentioned twice.

Under the theme of “wars and restrictions on access to information,” RSF cites Georgia alongside Hong Kong and El Salvador as examples of countries where information space has shrunk over the past quarter of a century “due to political changes and increasingly repressive regimes,” noting that Georgia’s decline has come “as the crackdown on the press has intensified in recent years.”

Georgia is also mentioned in the context of the “criminalisation of journalism.” RSF said the Index’s legal indicator – one of the five that has seen the most severe decline over the past year – is “notably the case” in India, Egypt, Israel, and Georgia. The watchdog said, “The criminalisation of journalism, which is rooted in circumventing press law and misusing emergency legislation and common law, is proving to be a global phenomenon.”

In November 2025, RSF said the press freedom violations in Georgia reached “unprecedented levels,” citing 600 attacks on the press since October 2024. The organization said at the time that “amid political pressure, restrictive legislation and funding difficulties, many independent media outlets are struggling to survive” in the country.

In a separate report published in March this year, RSF warned that China is “gradually strengthening” its influence over Georgia’s information space, describing a “subtle and widespread influence operation” that, in an already “weakened media landscape,” contributes to the spread of “authoritarian narratives” and undermines media pluralism.

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