自2014年以来，无国界记者组织（RSF）的全球指数分数持续恶化，新闻自由在全球范围内退却；《经济学人》分析了V-Dem在约180个国家、跨度80年的数据，发现压制媒体与腐败扩张之间存在逐步的反馈回路。其计算显示，若新闻自由从“如加拿大般良好”衰退到“如印度尼西亚般糟糕”，贪腐上升可从“如爱尔兰般清廉”到“如拉脱维亚般肮脏”，且这一过程会在数年内逐渐蔓延，使选民往往在下次选举之后才察觉。

政府越来越多地使用财政与监管工具来重塑媒体生态：任命亲信掌控公共广播，将国家广告预算导向顺从媒体，并推动依赖公共工程合同的友好富豪收购并削弱独立媒体。财务层面尤为脆弱：RSF调查的180个国家中有160个的新闻媒体处于财务不稳定状态，而批评性媒体还可能遭遇持续税务审计与滥诉，并被施压使私营企业一并回避投放广告。

针对个人记者的打击也在增加，且对女性更突出：联合国一项调查发现，75%的女性记者遭受过网络辱骂，42%遭遇过当面骚扰或威胁。惩罚可被套以国安、隐私或“假新闻”之名；例如在菲律宾，频繁批评安全部队的Frenchie-Mae Cumpio于1月被以“资助恐怖主义”判处12至18年监禁，而美国政府也收缩对外新闻自由支持，取消对独立海外媒体的补贴并关闭了如“亚洲自由电台”等公共机构。

Since 2014, the global score on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) index has steadily deteriorated, and press freedom is retreating worldwide; The Economist analyzed V-Dem data covering about 180 countries over 80 years and found a gradual feedback loop between muzzling the media and rising corruption. Its calculations suggest that if press freedom decays from “as good as Canada” to “as bad as Indonesia,” graft is predicted to rise from “as clean as Ireland” to “as grubby as Latvia,” metastasizing over several years so voters often notice only after the next election.

Governments increasingly use fiscal and regulatory tools to reshape the media ecosystem: installing loyalists atop public broadcasters, steering state advertising toward pliant outlets, and nudging friendly tycoons reliant on public-works contracts to buy and neuter independent firms. The financial trend is stark: in 160 of 180 countries surveyed by RSF, news media are financially precarious, while critical outlets face constant tax audits and vexatious lawsuits and may be squeezed as private advertisers are pressured to shun them too.

Crackdowns on individual journalists are rising and are especially acute for women: a UN survey found 75% of female reporters endured online abuse and 42% were harassed or threatened in person. Penalties are often routed through national-security, privacy, or “fake news” rules; for example in the Philippines, Frenchie-Mae Cumpio was sentenced in January to 12 to 18 years in prison for “financing terrorism,” and America’s government has also pulled back by scrapping subsidies to independent foreign media and shutting public outlets such as Radio Free Asia.

Source: As global press freedom dwindles, corrupt politicians rejoice

Subtitle: Less scrutiny, more booty

Dateline: 2月 05, 2026 06:12 上午