Arya News - Reporters Without Borders cites political intimidation, legal harassment, financial pressure, and online attacks as tactics used to undermine independent journalism.
DHAKA – US President Donald Trump is among 33 individuals and organisations named as “press freedom predators” by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which accused them of targeting journalists and independent media this year.
The Paris-based media rights watchdog released its 2026 list on Monday, marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
RSF said Trump had intensified attacks on the press since returning to the White House in January 2025, citing verbal attacks, legal intimidation, administrative reprisals and restrictions on journalists’ access to government and military institutions.
The United States now ranks 64th out of 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, down seven places from last year.
The list divides those named into five categories: political, security, legal, economic and social.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega were also placed in the political category.
The security category includes the Israeli armed forces, the Chinese Communist Party, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Mexican drug cartels.
RSF accused the Israeli military and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of pursuing repressive policies against journalists in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
It described China as the world’s largest prison for journalists. It also said organised crime had killed nearly one journalist a month in Mexico since the beginning of the year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and India’s Adani Group were named in the legal category over alleged misuse of legal proceedings against journalists and media outlets.
Technology giants Alphabet and Meta feature in the economic category, while billionaire Elon Musk, Argentine President Javier Milei and Indian website OpIndia were placed in the social category.
RSF said the individuals and organisations used different methods to suppress independent journalism, including violence, imprisonment, legal harassment, financial pressure and online attacks.
RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin said the list was subjective but sought to identify those responsible for attacks on press freedom.
He said naming those responsible and documenting their actions could help prevent such attacks from becoming normalised.
No individual or organisation from Bangladesh appears on the list.
Bangladesh ranked 152nd in RSF’s 2026 World Press Freedom Index, slipping three places from last year. Its press freedom situation remained in the “very serious” category