Freedom House, a non-profit, non-partisan organization annually publishes surveys on freedom around the world including on freedom of the press. The 2005 study reports the U.S. has dropped from 15th to 27th in the last year. The decline reflects court cases involving reporters' sources and notes, government payment of reporters, etc. The country with the freest press is Finland. The most alarming statistic is 45% of the world's population live in countries where the press is not free. For the complete report see:
http://freedomhouse.org/research/pressurvey.htm