The US dropped 13 places since last year's report

Feb 13, 2014 10:07 GMT  ·  By

Press freedom is essential for any democracy and the National Security Agency in the United States is threatening this freedom.

According to The World Press Freedom Index for 2014 from Reporters Without Borders, the United States ranked 46th out of 180 countries, dropping 13 places from last year.

The report covers a few misdemeanors for the United States. For instance, it states that countries priding themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of the law sacrifice the freedom of speech to an abusive interpretation of national security needs that is often too broad.

“Investigative journalism often suffers as a result,” the report reads, noting that there’s a noticeable retreat from democratic practices.

The file makes note of all major recent assaults on the freedom of the press, including the Chelsea Manning case, as well as the manhunt on Edward Snowden.