Press freedom around the world is at its lowest ebb in a generation, according to an influential annual index that highlights growing authoritarian pressure on the media. The average score for the 180 countries assessed by the World Press Freedom Index , compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), was the lowest in the index’s 25-year history. For the first time, more than half of all countries were placed in the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom. While a fifth of the global population lived in a country where press freedom was categorised as “good” in 2002, that has now fallen to less than 1% of the world’s population. The study found that a dramatic expansion of “restrictive legal arsenals” used by governments around the world, particularly in their use of national security laws, was impinging on the rights of the free press. RSF said press freedom had been declining over the 25-year period its index covered.…