Baltic countries lead in supporting media freedom internationally

24 October 2025

Baltic countries lead in supporting media freedom internationally

The Baltic states have emerged as global leaders in promoting media freedom internationally, according to a new Index on International Media Freedom Support (IMFS).

The IMFS Index evaluates countries on how actively they support media freedom beyond their borders through diplomatic, funding and safety efforts.

It is published by an independent group of academics at the University of East Anglia and City St George’s, University of London.

Lithuania topped the Index, reflecting its strong diplomatic efforts to advance media freedom and its visa program supporting journalists in exile, including from Belarus and Russia.

Estonia ranked 4^th, while Latvia came 9^th out of the 30 countries measured.

Report author Prof Martin Scott, from the University of East Anglia, said: “The Baltic states’ strong focus on supporting media freedom internationally likely reflects their political histories and mounting concerns about the threats of misinformation and propaganda.”

In a joint statement at the United Nations General Assembly in November last year, the Baltic countries stated: “Democracies need to act together to address disinformation, especially spread by foreign actors who seek to undermine our institutions and societies”.

Sweden ranked second in the Index, largely due to its strong financial support for independent journalism abroad. It allocated 0.9 per cent of its foreign aid to media support in 2023, well above the 0.16 per cent average among the 30 countries assessed.

However, for many larger countries, the results show a significant gap between their public commitments to supporting media freedom internationally and their actual support.

Four G7 members – the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, and Japan – were placed in the lowest ‘bronze’ category, scoring 10 points or less in the Index.

Prof Mel Bunce, one of the report authors at City St George’s, University of London, said: “Many G7 countries make commitments on the global stage to support media freedom financially and diplomatically. But they do not always deliver.”

Although the United States ranked equal 12^th in the Index, a time lag in reporting means that this does not capture its significant cuts to aid spending in 2025, which have had a substantial impact on international media assistance.

Changes in climate change perceptions

11 June 2010

Two interesting studies have recently been released showing US and UK public perceptions of climate change after the recent “climategate” email leaks from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and controversies over mistakes in the 4th IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report.

In the US, the Woods Institute for the Environment have carried out their 5th annual survey. 74% of respondents in a 100o person telephone survey responded yes to the question “Has the Earth’s temperature probably had been heating up over the last 100 years?”. The figure is down slightly from last year, when it was 75%, and has declined each year from the first survey in 2006 when it stood at 85%. The analysis showed that the recent fall was due to those who are sceptical of climate change scientists reacting to cold weather in the last two years.

Note how this figure of 74% compares with the 63% figure found by Gallup for US citizens who are aware of climate change and believe it to be due to manmade changes (see our previous blog post). It seems to suggest a large majority of Americans who think the earth is warming believe that it is humans who are causing it, with the majority of sceptics not believing in global warming at all.

The Woods Institute survey, led by Josh Krosnick, also showed that despite the recent controversies, trust in climate scientists had actually risen slightly over the last year.

The newly published Ipsos Mori poll carried out with Cardiff University paints a similar picture of belief in the UK. In 2005, 91% of those surveyed thought that climate change was happening and this has now reduced to 78%. With 58% replying that they had noticed changes for themselves, it shows the power of personal experience and that we are reaching a stage where a majority have some relevant experience to back up any studies by experts. However, 40% of respondents thought that the seriousness of climate change is exaggerated.

Overall, the studies show a smaller fall in belief in climate change than might be expected after the recent high profile controversies over the accuracy and independence of published results and also after recent cold weather that has caused headlines to change from “global warming” to “climate change”.