Press freedom in Costa Rica

Costa Rica stands out as a country with independent media, so much so, that the country is in 18th place worldwide in the Press Freedom Index 2013, prepared by Reporters Without Borders.

Beside being the regional leader in press freedom, Costa Rica improved on its position of last year (19), and continues in first place in the entire hemisphere, surpassing countries such as Canada (20), which fell 10 places over the previous year, or the United States (32).

Issues such as the lack of pressure from the government, or attacks by organized crime, are taken into account to determine the ranking.

In the rest of the region, El Salvador finished second, in 38th place.

Panama and Honduras, ranked last in Central America.

The world list is led by Finland, where journalists have extensive freedom to criticize the government, and do not run the danger of pressure or threats of drug trafficking, followed by the Netherlands and Norway.

The most dangerous countries for journalists are Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, among 179 nations.


Figures in parentheses are the positions which each Central American country occupies in the global ranking.

1. Costa Rica (18)
2. El Salvador (38)
3. Nicaragua (78)
4. Guatemala (95)
5. Panama (111)
6. Honduras (127)