The following report was produced by the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIReN), written by Esra Aygin.
The Republic of Cyprus, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, has slipped three more places in 2026 in the World Press Freedom Index amid concerns about legal and administrative attempts by the state to constrain free journalism.
According to the Index published by the international non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today, Cyprus now ranks 80th among 180 countries. As in 2025, Cyprus is the second to last EU country for press freedom after Greece, which ranks 86 in the Press Freedom Index.
This year Cyprus also dropped most drastically in political score within the Europe-Balkans zone, which covers 40 countries – one of the five indicators used by RSF to evaluate the status of press freedom. Political score, among others, reflects the degree of support for the autonomy of the media in the country, and the press’s role of holding power to account in the public interest.
Cyprus also has the worst legal score in Europe, which in part reflects the degree to which journalists are free to work without censorship or judicial sanctions, and their ability to access information and to protect sources.
The other three indicators RSF uses for assessing press freedom are economic, sociocultural, and safety.
Cyprus now has a total score of 56.9 on a scale of 0 to 100. The world average score is 54.
“Cyprus continues in the decline that started in 2022 and accelerated in 2024,” Pavol Szalai, RSF Director of the Prague Bureau, told CIReN. It ranked 26th in the 2021 Press Freedom Index; 65th in 2022; and slipped a further 12 places to rank 77th last year.
Among factors that cause concern are attempts to create legal barriers that would weaken press freedom in Cyprus, according to Szalai. As CIReN reported, the government drafted new legislation last year that would give authority to the president-appointed prosecutor or head of the intelligence service to lift the right of confidentiality of journalists regarding their sources.
“Confidentiality of journalistic sources is a cornerstone of press freedom,” said Szalai. “This would be very dangerous.”
Another legal attempt that is still causing concern is a draft law criminalizing the dissemination of ‘fake news.’
Szalai also drew attention to “a growing trend of government and state officials avoiding questions from the press,” and “a dispute over press accreditation for events held by the Cyprus Presidency of the EU.”
The Secretariat of the Cyprus Presidency is requiring Cypriot journalists to present press cards issued by the Republic’s Press and Information Office (PIO), while refusing to accept press cards issued by the Cyprus Union of Journalists.
These developments are “clearly undermining the right of journalists to access public information,” said Szalai.
Szalai also criticized the handling of the corruption allegations made by investigative journalist Makarios Droushiotis, noting that the government failed to investigate allegations of state surveillance and hacking into the devices and electronic files of Droushiotis in previous years.
“I would like to use this occasion to express [Droushiotis] support,” Szalai said. “All these problems actually have to be seen in the general context of press freedom in Cyprus. It is a very small market with a lot of media ownership concentration. Media funding and ownership are not transparent. The public broadcaster does not have guarantees of independence. Overall this is an environment which is very constrained for free journalism,” he added.
In its updated country profile for Cyprus, RSF reiterated the concerns of previous years such as government, business and church influence over the media, direct interference in editorial decisions, growing media concentration and lack of transparency in media ownership.
CIReN has reported on media ownership in Cyprus, with the recently updated project ‘Who Owns the Media,’ revealing the extent of external business interests of media owners, as well as involvement in politics.
The northern part of Cyprus
The northern part of Cyprus ranked 82nd among 180 countries in 2026 in the World Press Freedom Index, just two points behind the rest of the island.
Although this is technically an increase of nine places from last year, the scores of the five indicators RSF uses to assess media freedom have only increased by 1.7 points to 56.6, and the northern part of Cyprus still remains one of the last jurisdictions in the Europe-Balkans zone in the Index.
“From the change of score, which is not significant, we can see that this [rise] is mostly thanks to the fall of other countries,” explained Szalai. “Northern Cyprus remains 6th from the bottom in the EU-Balkans zone, which covers 40 countries.”
The slight increase in the indicators can be attributed to a recent decision by a Turkish Cypriot court to dismiss the libel case that then-Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar brought against the daily Yeniduzen, its then-chief editor Cenk Mutluyakali, and journalist Serhat Incirli.
“There still is a certain legal protection in northern Cyprus,” Szalai said. “This month we had good news because the court dismissed the case. This was a SLAPP case so this is good news for press freedom in [the northern part of Cyprus], which is at a really low level.” (A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or a SLAPP, is intended to silence critical speech)
Szalai raised particular concern about the ongoing case against Turkish Cypriot journalist Ali Kişmir, who faces a ten-year prison sentence for “insulting and defaming” the security forces in a newspaper article denouncing Turkish meddling in elections in the northern part of Cyprus.
Szalai said Kişmir was “unjustly prosecuted,” adding that “we still have that threat of a sentence against Ali Kismir and we are currently expecting a decision by the constitutional court.”
Although there has been an increase in the threats against journalists, as a relatively positive development, Szalai mentioned a more free and public discussion about this critical issue in the northern part of Cyprus.
“The social-cultural indicator, which is one of the five indicators of the Press Freedom Index, is one of the last in Europe and this can be attributed to the threats received by journalists,” Szalai said of the northern part of Cyprus. However “we have seen a certain liberation of speech about threats against journalists. Several of them spoke about the threats and death threats they received and this has become an issue of public debate.”
In its updated country analysis, RSF reiterated Turkey’s increasing pressure on the media and growing media concentration in the hands of businessmen among main factors undermining press freedom in the north.
RSF also drew attention to threats, lawsuits and criminal proceedings against journalists, especially those who criticize the Turkish or Turkish Cypriot government, military, or other authorities.