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Turkey has dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published Friday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported.
The report cites ongoing censorship, politically motivated arrests and state control over media as key factors in the country’s continued decline in press freedom.
The ranking places Turkey in the lowest tier of the index for the second consecutive year, falling one position from its 2024 ranking of 158th. Turkey remains among the world’s most repressive environments for journalists, with RSF citing state control of media, politically motivated prosecutions, financial sanctions and violence against reporters.
According to RSF, 90 percent of Turkey’s national media is under direct or indirect government control. Following the 2023 elections, authorities escalated their crackdown on critical journalism. Police violence and mass arrests were used against reporters covering political rallies and street protests. Online censorship politically charged lawsuits, and punitive court decisions have become standard tools of state repression.
Journalists are frequently stripped of their press credentials, particularly those working for opposition or independent outlets. Courts acting in line with executive interests regularly order the removal of online articles exposing corruption or government misconduct. A proposed law on “agents of influence” is expected to broaden the state’s power to criminalize dissent and further restrict press freedom.
State and pro-government business interests endanger media pluralism by channeling ads and subsidies to media outlets that give them favorable coverage, according to RSF.
The Press Advertising Agency (BIK) routinely withholds public ads from news outlets critical of the government, while the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposes heavy fines on opposition broadcasters. These tactics contribute to financial instability in independent media; some newspapers shut down due to rising costs.
Journalists who criticize government officials, judges, or religious figures often face charges of “insult.” Women journalists who report on domestic violence or abuse are frequently targeted by coordinated hate campaigns on social media. Politicians from the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a key ally of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), have issued threats against reporters covering sensitive issues, including corruption and human rights abuses, the report states.
Journalists covering anti-government protests, religious extremism, or attacks on secularism face heightened risks of violence and intimidation.
According to data from the Media and Law Studies Association, there are currently 37 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, mainly comprising Kurdish journalists and those who worked for media outlets affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, inspired the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in December 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The World Press Freedom Index score is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest level of press freedom. RSF evaluates countries across five indicators: political context, legal framework, economic conditions, sociocultural pressures and journalist safety. Each indicator contributes equally to a country’s final score, which then determines its ranking on a color-coded map. Turkey is classified in the “very serious” category, the lowest tier on the RSF scale.