Millions of dollars in advertising revenues being sucked up by tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are strengthening their dominance over the dissemination of information and contributing to a “worrying decline” in press freedom worldwide, according to the RSF World Press Freedom Index released on 03 May 2025.
Says the report, “These largely unregulated platforms are absorbing an ever-growing share of advertising revenues that would usually support journalism. Total spending on advertising through social media reached 247.3 billion USD in 2024, a 14 per cent increase compared to 2023. These online platforms further hamper the information space by contributing to the spread of manipulated and misleading content, amplifying disinformation.”
The annual RSF World Press Freedom Index compares the freedom journalists and media enjoy in 180 countries and territories. It defines “Press Freedom” as the “ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.”
This year’s Index is particularly significant because, for the first time in its history, the global state of press freedom is classified as a “difficult situation”, thanks to a combination of technological, financial, political, and economic pressures. Says the report, “Although physical attacks against journalists are the most visible violations of press freedom, economic pressure is also a major, more insidious problem. The economic indicator on the RSF World Press Freedom Index now stands at an unprecedented, critical low as its decline continued in 2025.”
Its findings and conclusions have a direct bearing on the Travel & Tourism industry. As one of the world’s biggest advertisers, Travel & Tourism is contributing to the problem both by pouring advertising revenues into the tech giants as well as by its growing shift to content creators, bloggers and influencers, who are NOT journalists. (A more detailed analysis of the implications for Travel & Tourism is at the end of this report).
Says the report, “At a time when press freedom is experiencing a worrying decline in many parts of the world, a major — yet often underestimated — factor is seriously weakening the media: economic pressure. Much of this is due to ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, and public aid that is restricted, absent or allocated in an opaque manner. The data measured by the RSF Index’s economic indicator clearly shows that today’s news media are caught between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival.”
An important feature of the Index is its interactivity. It is formulated using political, economic, legislative, socio-cultural, and security indicators, each of which can be monitored in an interactive map between 2013 and 2025. This makes it both measurable and comparable between countries and regions and over timeframes.
One startling conclusion is the drop in the freedom index of the so-called champions of democracy, the United States, India, and Israel. Israel is particularly singled out for its “annihilation” of journalists trying to report on its genocidal bombing and starvation campaign in Gaza.
In addition to the loss of advertising revenue, which has severely disrupted and constrained the media economy, media ownership concentration is another key factor in the deterioration of the Index’s economic indicator and poses a serious threat to media plurality. Data from the Index shows that media ownership is highly concentrated in 46 countries and, in some cases, entirely controlled by the state.
Says the report, “This is evident in Russia (171st, down 9 places), where the press is dominated by the state or Kremlin-linked oligarchs, and in Hungary (68th), where the government stifles outlets critical of its policies through the unequal distribution of state advertising. It is also apparent in countries where “foreign influence” laws are used to repress independent journalism, such as Georgia (114th, down 11 places). In Tunisia (129th, down 11 places), Peru (130th) and Hong Kong (140th), where public subsidies are now directed toward pro-government media.
Even in highly ranked countries like Australia (29th), Canada (21st) and Czechia (10th), media concentration is cause for concern. In France (25th, down four places), a few wealthy owners control a significant share of the national press. This growing concentration restricts editorial diversity, increases the risk of self-censorship, and raises serious concerns about newsrooms’ independence from their shareholders’ economic and political interests.”
The Index’s survey shows that editorial interference is compounding the problem. In 92 out of the 180 countries and territories evaluated by the Index, most respondents reported that media owners “always” or “often” limited their outlet’s editorial independence. In Lebanon (132nd), India (151st), Armenia (34th) and Bulgaria (70th, down 11 places), many outlets owe their survival to conditional financing from individuals close to the political or business worlds. The majority of respondents in 21 countries, including Rwanda (146th), the United Arab Emirates (164th), and Vietnam (173rd), said media owners “always” interfered editorially.
Implications for Travel & Tourism
If a similar Press Freedom Index were to be created for the Travel & Tourism media, the results would be far worse. The state of travel journalism and communications has deteriorated significantly over the years, for very much the same reasons as the mainstream media, leading to a dumbing down of the industry discourse which, in turn, does nothing to curtail the pandemic of lies, fake news, disinformation and incitement by governments, the military-industrial complex, religious extremists and various other zealots.
Travel industry media and communications professionals on both sides of the aisle should carry out a forensic analysis of the Index, especially those who want to contribute to the betterment of the industry at large as opposed to their own individual entities. They should recognise the value of robust industry debate, dissent, and discourse as part of the solution.
Its conclusions can be evaluated against the following four-point checklist which I have drawn up based on my 44 years of coverage of Asia-Pacific Travel & Tourism.
1) Quality of travel journalism:
Most travel publications today are full of recycled press releases and/or interviews with CEOs singing praises for either themselves or their products. When was the last time the travel media ran an interview with a trade unionist, a civil society organisation or a critical thinking academic? Or reported on corruption, environmental degradation, money laundering, human trafficking, human resources, etc? When was the last time Press conferences saw some hard questions being asked?
2) Quality of travel communications.
The vast majority of media releases and official announcements published across all platforms are boring and banal, and their content is not much different from that of about 30 years ago.
3) Quality of travel forums:
These are full of speakers-cum-sponsors delivering pre-packaged presentations interspersed with panels moderated by hosts asking pre-approved questions. Technology has worsened by removing the personal interaction of asking live questions from the floor.
4) The role of funding and sponsorship:
Travel & Tourism NTOs, airlines, hotels, OTAs, convention centres, etc., are amongst the world’s biggest advertisers. By shifting funds to the tech giants, content creators, bloggers, and influencers simply in pursuit of eyeballs, they have contributed to the financial distress of the mainstream media and, hence, to the decline in check-and-balance mechanisms and the ability to speak truth to power. Does funding influencers and bloggers, or sponsoring brain-dead travel supplements, useless dinners, cocktail receptions, hoardings, and stickers at MICE events really contribute to a better, more well-informed Travel & Tourism sector?
These challenges are very real and not about to go away anytime soon.
Conclusion
Press freedom in 2013
Press freedom in 2025
The media, once known as the fourth estate and a powerful bulwark against authoritarianism and autocracy, has historically played a critical role in nation-building. Its more nefarious side has also been deployed to foment wars, conflict, and societal discord. Both forces are now intersecting, perhaps at the most critical juncture of the 21st century.
Imtiaz Muqbil, publisher of Travel Impact in Bangkok, commented to his article:
If serious Travel and tourism media and communications professionals wish to contribute to the solution, they will find the Press Freedom Index worthy of deep introspection. I suspect most of them will give it a cursory glance, shrug, and scroll on.
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