Though two-thirds of Americans believe press freedom is very important, only a third say that the media is actually completely free to report the news, according to a Pew Research Center study released Thursday.
That gap — where more people say press freedom is important than report actually having it — is found across countries as diverse as Chile and Turkey, the study finds. Pew’s study is based on surveys of more than 50,000 adults across 35 countries and covers perceptions of free speech and internet freedom in addition to press freedom.
In the U.S., 67% of adults said it is “very” important that the media can report the news without government censorship, while 26% said it is “somewhat” important. While those figures are slightly higher than the median across the 35 countries surveyed, several countries like Sweden and Canada had higher shares of adults who said that press freedom is “very” important.
Past surveys from Pew show that Americans’ belief in the importance of press freedom is down from 2019, when 80% said a free press is important, and static compared to 2015, when 67% said it is important.
Americans with more education were more likely to say they value press freedom than those with less — a pattern Pew found in 23 other countries. “I think that kind of demonstrates that a lot of this debate is among the more highly educated people around the world,” said Jacob Poushter, the lead author of the study and Pew’s associate director of global attitudes research.
In terms of perceived actual freedom, the picture is less rosy. Only 33% of Americans said the media is “completely” free to report the news. A little less than half, 46%, said the media is “somewhat” free, while 20% said the media is not at all free.
Countries that reported less press freedom include Greece; South Korea; Turkey; and several Latin American countries including Mexico, Peru and Chile.
Most of Pew’s survey data is from spring 2024. Its U.S. data, however, comes from surveys conducted in February and March 2025. Those additional surveys were part of an attempt to understand how Americans’ views have shifted during President Donald Trump’s second term. Since taking office, Trump and his administration have launched a slew of attacks on the press and free speech, including the defunding of media outlets, the detention of student protesters and the restriction of press access for wire services.
Pew found notable partisan shifts in the perceptions of press freedom, free speech and internet freedom. For example, in 2024, 29% of Republicans said the press is completely free, compared to 42% in 2025. Democrats shifted in the opposite direction: 38% said the press is completely free in 2024, compared to just 25% this year.
“People definitely feel freer about press and speech in their country if the people that they like or the party that they support is in power,” Poushter said.
Pew released an additional report Thursday further examining Americans’ attitudes towards press freedom. That survey, conducted primarily in late February, found that 69% are at least somewhat concerned about potential restrictions on press freedom. Democrats in particular are worried, with 60% saying they are “extremely or very” concerned, compared to 28% of Republicans.
Democrats have also become more likely to say that news outlets are influenced “a great deal” by government or political interests. Just over half, or 51%, shared this belief when surveyed this year, compared to 34% last year. Overall, 86% of Americans said they believe news organizations are at least somewhat influenced by political interests, and a similar percentage said they believe news outlets are influenced by corporations and financial interests.
Misinformation is a major concern for many of the countries Pew surveyed. Just over half of Americans, or 51%, said they believe made-up news and information is a “very big” problem, while 36% said it is a “moderately big” problem. Americans who believe misinformation is a major problem were less likely to report being satisfied with the state of democracy in the country — a finding repeated in many other countries.
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