U.S. Press Freedom Declines

In the annual World Press Freedom Index, the United States was singled out for "one of the most significant declines" in press freedom last year, dropping to 46th place between Romania and Haiti on the 180-country index. The index, which is compiled by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, argued that its pursuit of intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, conviction of WikiLeaks informer Bradley Manning, and seizure of phone records from the Associated Press led to the decline. Also noteworthy on the list was Syria, where roughly 130 members of the media have died since the conflict began in 2011.