An interactive Shiny dashboard for exploring the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index, 2002–2026, across countries, regions, and time — including a five-dimension breakdown (political, economic, legal, social, safety) available from 2022 onward.
pbaumgartner-pressfreedom.share.connect.posit.cloud — for casual, interactive exploration. No install needed, full feature support, and stable long-term hosting.
As an R package — for heavy exploration, repeated sessions, or offline use, avoiding any rate limits entirely:
remotes::install_github("petzi53/pressfreedom")
# or: pak::pak("petzi53/pressfreedom")
library(pressfreedom)
run_app()Both run the exact same app code (inst/app/app.R), so
the experience is identical either way.
Data is sourced from RSF and standardized by the companion pressfreedom.data
package, which pressfreedom loads live at startup
(pressfreedom.data::rwb_standardized) rather than bundling.
See its pkgdown
site for the full data dictionary, cleaning pipeline, and
known-issue documentation. The dashboard’s own “About” tab covers
scoring bands, methodology, and limitations.
pressfreedom/
├── R/run_app.R # Exported run_app() launcher
├── inst/app/
│ ├── app.R # Shiny entry point (also deployed as-is to Posit Connect Cloud)
│ └── R/ # Modules: map, trends chart, country profile, inputs, flags, about, helpers
└── DESCRIPTIONHow to cite:
If you use this package or the underlying Press Freedom Index data, please cite both:
The pressfreedom R package:
Peter Baumgartner (2026). pressfreedom: Press Freedom Dashboard.
R package version 0.1.0.
https://github.com/petzi53/pressfreedomThe original RSF data:
Reporters Without Borders (RSF). World Press Freedom Index.
https://rsf.org/en/indexFound a bug or have a question?
MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
The hex logo’s microphone icon is from Flaticon (microphone icons created by Magnific).
Peter Baumgartner · petzi53@gmail.com · ORCID · GitHub