U.S. press freedom ranking slides

President Donald Trump considers much of the news media his adversaries, as can be confirmed with a single visit to his Twitter profile. He frequently decries “fake news,” has referred to reporters as the “enemy of the American people” and singles out outlets in critical tweets. And while the United States has laws in place to protect journal- ists, a new report states that the country’s overall level of press freedom has declined since Trump took office.

The watchdog organiza- tion Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday released its annual World Press Free- dom Index, which ranks 180 countries from highest to lowest levels of press free- dom. The United States fell in the ranking, as it did last year — this time, two places down to 45th. Norway remained on top, with North Korea as its polar opposite.

Reporters Without Borders compiled the index by analyzing expert opinions and numerical data on the frequency and intensity of violent acts toward journal- ists. The experts answered a questionnaire with six focus areas: environment and self-censorship, infrastructure, legislative framework, pluralism, media independence and transparency.

Hostility toward the media has become “steadily more visible,” the report states, and verbal violence toward journalists often veers toward becoming physical. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, which fell to 133rd, told reporters in 2016 that they “are not exempted from assassination.” President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic, which fell 11 spots to 34th, held a replica rifle inscribed “at journalists” during a news conference last fall.