Sri Lanka has now been officially classified as a “difficult” country for press freedom, according to the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF)—a designation the country shares with repressive regimes and war zones. This marks the first time in the history of the Index that the global situation has reached such alarming levels, with Sri Lanka’s deteriorating media landscape now firmly part of that downward spiral.
While violence against journalists has traditionally been the most visible indicator of media repression, the real killer in Sri Lanka today is economic suffocation. Newsrooms are crumbling under the weight of opaque funding models, concentrated media ownership, advertiser pressure, and government influence. The country’s independent press is being squeezed not by bullets, but by bank accounts.
The economic indicator, one of five key factors used to determine the RSF rankings, hit a record-breaking low this year. RSF has warned that without financial independence, there can be no editorial freedom—a reality playing out across Sri Lanka’s media industry, where journalists often walk a tightrope between survival and silence.
Anne Bocandé, RSF’s Editorial Director, didn’t mince words. “When news media are financially strained, they fall prey to oligarchs and public authorities. Journalists become impoverished and powerless to resist propaganda,” she said. “The media economy must urgently be restored to a state that ensures the production of reliable, independent information.”
Sri Lanka is now grouped with 160 out of 180 countries where media outlets “struggle” or outright fail to achieve financial stability. And worse, it’s not alone in this descent. Globally, over one-third of countries have experienced media shutdowns due to economic hardship—including the United States, Tunisia, and Argentina.
But Sri Lanka’s fall comes amid a broader crisis.
Across Asia, authoritarian governments continue to mimic China’s propaganda model, while media concentration in countries like India and Sri Lanka grows unchecked. In India’s case, the country plummeted to 151st place, underscoring the regional collapse in press liberty. While Sri Lanka’s exact ranking wasn’t specified in the index summary, its new “difficult” label puts it on a map increasingly painted in red.
Even tech behemoths like Google and Facebook are making things worse, siphoning off advertising revenue that once sustained newsrooms and replacing professional journalism with clickbait and misinformation.
And it’s not just poor countries struggling—powerhouses like Canada, Australia, and even France are seeing editorial diversity crushed by billionaire media barons. Ownership is now synonymous with influence, and influence, more often than not, spells trouble for the truth.
In this climate, Sri Lankan journalists are facing an impossible choice: obey their paymasters or risk losing their platform entirely. Many are self-censoring, going into exile, or exiting the profession altogether.
The takeaway from the 2025 Index is chilling: press freedom is in retreat—and for Sri Lanka, it’s no longer just a concern. It’s a crisis.
SOURCE :- RSF
