Civil Liberties

Why did we include this measure?

The press is seen as so important to holding the government accountable and keeping the public informed that it is sometimes called the "fourth estate," placing it on par with other "estates," including the government itself. The specific measure we chose was the only one we could find that consistently and objectively measured press freedom. Other data sources focus on assessments of press freedoms by experts and reporters themselves, but these are more subjective and difficult to interpret than our measure, which focuses on actual, documented events that seem to violate press freedoms.

How does Colorado compare to the rest of the country?

Colorado's trend in freedom of the press has been worsening more than the US. Compared to other states, Colorado has also decreased in state ranking by two or more places. Therefore, we categorize Colorado's comparison to the US as negative. In the most recent year, Colorado ranked 37 (out of 51). In the same year, 21 states tied for first (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia). Washington DC ranked last.

Additional Information.

The year 2020 was an unusual year in the US. The COVID pandemic upended our lives and led to controversy over social distancing, vaccines, and other pandemic-related matters; the murder of George Floyd spurred national protests over racial injustice; and the 2020 presidential election saw verbal attacks against the press. The national number of attacks on the press was more than four times higher that year compared with 2019 and 2022.