U.S. falls 27 places in worldwide freedom of the press rankings The United States has been downgraded. Reporters Without Borders has released its annual World Press Freedom Index and the United States fell 27 points to No. 47 on the list. Reporters Without Borders We now tie with Argentina, Romania and Latvia at "satisfactory" levels of freedom. The reason for the plummet? The many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests. The United States was not alone in the falling grades: Bahrain fell 29 points because of the crackdown in that country. Egypt and Syria also fell a few points to languish near the bottom of the pack (166) and (176) respectively. Others in the Arab world fared better. Tunisia jumped 30 points thanks to its revolution. Pakistan was the world's deadliest country for journalists, and Eritrea came in last in the list of overall press freedom. See the full report here.