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[Press Freedom Predators 2025] Slovak PM Fico listed
International Day to End Impunity Crimes Against Journalists (2 November)
For International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, celebrated on 2 November, Reporters Without Borders unveiled 34 press freedom predators who attacked journalists and the right to information in 2025. Slovak PM Robert Fico was listed among predators who apply social pressure - those who smear media and promote mistrust of journalists.
#34 Press Freedom Predators Listed
For International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, celebrated on 2 November, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) unveiled the profiles of 34 press freedom predators who attacked journalists and the right to information in 2025. They kill, censor, imprison and assault journalists, throttle news media, denigrate journalism, or use its codes to manipulate information for propaganda purposes.
The Reporters Without Borders in their assessment note that:
The predators "include those who have relentlessly persecuted the media for years – the Chinese Communist Party with Xi Jinping at its head, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. All of them once again distinguished themselves in 2025 with their unrestrained perseciution of journalists and media.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), responsible for the deaths of nearly 220 journalists under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are obviously included. Myanmar’s State Peace and Security Commission and Burkina Faso’s military junta, led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, are equally adept at silencing those who report independently. In Mexico, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) emerged in 2025 as the country's most violent criminal organisation and one of the most formidable predators of journalism.
Because they throttle news media or subject them to arbitrary judicial pressure, Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, Deputy Prosecutor Seng Heang in Cambodia, and the Georgian billionaire oligarch and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili are included in this list of 2025 predators.
In 2025, those who prey on press freedom are also distinguished by their increased use of technology to restrict the freedom to report the news. While Xi Jinping uses Chinese chatbots to disseminate state propaganda, Elon Musk uses his social media X to harass journalists, and the IDF, already responsible for the deaths of hundreds of journalists, conduct online smear campaigns to discredit journalism. As for OpIndia, the Hindu nationalist website has stepped up its disinformation and harassment campaigns against journalists critical of the Indian government in 2025".
#Categories of Press Freedom Predators
The 2025 Press Freedom Predators list serves as a counterpart to the Press Freedom Index published annually by RSF (see Press Freedom Index 2025). While the Index assesses the state of press freedom in countries, this list highlights those who trample it underfoot.
These predators are divided into five categories, directly derived from the Index's indicators:Â
POLITICAL (8) - They muzzle information in their country
SECURITY (7) - They kill, attack and jail journalists
LEGAL (7) - They subject journalists to judicial harassment
ECONOMIC (6) - They ruin media financially
SOCIAL (6) - They smear media and promote mistrust of journalists
#Slovak PM Fico in the List
Robert Fico was listed as one of six predators within the SOCIAL category.
Apart from examples of his continuous hostile rhetoric towards critical media and journalists, the Index reflects a recent research study (in Slovak) by the Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak (ICJK):
Paid hatred: Attacks on journalists were mostly sponsored by politicians in Slovakia and Hungary, platforms did not intervene (Platená nenávisť: Útoky na novinárov najviac sponzorovali politici na Slovensku a v Maďarsku, platformy nezakročili)
ICJK analysed hateful, defamatory type of Meta ads that were sponsored by active politicians, state officials and political parties in V4 countries and which targeted media, journalists, activists or civil society organisations and representatives.
Out of total 773 such ads during 12 months (July 2024 - June 2025) in all 4 monitored countries, 523 originated in Slovakia (some 68 per cent), with prime minister Fico, his party SMER-SSD, and numerous party and related affiliates (such as a Chief of Government Office Juraj Gedra) dominated this hateful ranking - amounting to 12/15 of online hate sponsors.
For more information on recent Slovakia media development see also MEMO 98 articles:
[Digital News Report 2025 - Slovakia] Public broadcaster's state capture. Its trust has rapidly declined
(17 June 2025)
[Press Freedom Index 2025] Slovakia is falling
(3 May 2025)
