Bad news is good news for media companies  – it sells way more than positive stuff.

Writing about negative things can have a positive impact – it makes it more difficult for these things to happen in the future. If a newspaper exposes wide spread corruption it is almost certain that the officials involved will lose their positions.

Giving journalists the freedom to write about whatever they want ensures that in the long run the country they live in will have a better business environment which is good for sustained economic growth.

Reporters Without Borders is a world wide organization that stands for press freedom across the world. They also manage the Worldwide Press Freedom Index that lists the countries of the world by their press freedom.

Top 10 countries with free press in the world

1 – Iceland
2 – Norway
3 – Estonia
4 – Slovakia
5 – Belgium
6 – Finland
7 - Sweden
8 – Denmark
9 – Ireland
10 – Portugal

Other notable countries

Canada – 18th place

Germany – 20th place

United Kingdom – 24th place

USA – 48th place

Russia – 144th place

Map of press freedom

On the freedom of press map below green indicates the countries with highest press freedom and red lowest press freedom

FinancialJesus.com is a true believer of press freedom, so we are very delighted to see Estonia (this is where we run our business) ranking in the 3rd position.