# World Press Freedom Index Tracks Decline of Free Press Globally and in U.S. Under Donald Trump

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump.md
Podcast: [WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361)
Published: 2026-06-06T05:05:04+00:00
Episode link: https://btlonline.org/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump/
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/d4ece4f2/e7ebdbcc.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361/episodes/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump
Duration seconds: 989

## Resource

Interview with Ben Grazda, advocacy manager with Reporters Without Borders, conducted by Scott Harris. Ben Grazda examines some of the long-term challenges facing American journalists including economic pressure leading to the disappearance of many local news outlets; concentration of ownership; political attacks on government critics and the January 2026 FBI raid on Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, which sets a dangerous precedent for the future prosecution of journalists doing their jobs. Grazda summarizes Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) World Press Freedom Index tracking the decline in freedom of the press around the world, and the steep decline here in the U.S.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361/episodes/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/wpkn-politics-policy-and-planet-podcast-7035361/world-press-freedom-index-tracks-decline-of-free-press-globally-and-in-u-s-under-donald-trump.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.