Long gone are the days of repressive, military dictatorships in the Americas. Still,journalists are facing new forms of censorship, as well as threats from non state actors that make some countries in the hemisphere some of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist.

Despite some improvements in the past few years, the drug war in Mexico has killed more journalists for their work than the war in Afghanistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In fact, if you count in the murder or journalists whose motive has not been confirmed, that number is closer to those killed in Syria. Colombia remains one of the deadliest places to be a journalist, and like much Honduras and Guatemala, a majority of the killings are left in impunity.

But it's not just violence that's censoring journalists. In South America, democratically elected governments with strong popular support have passed laws to curb press freedom, like Ecuador's Organic Law of Communication. These laws receive popular support because of a history of entrenched media monopolies that are seen as serving private interests.

And even though the United States has some of the strictest protIn the Americas, the United States (49th, down three places) continues its decline. In 2014, the New York Times journalist James Risen came under government pressure to reveal his sources. Although the Obama administration backed away in that case, it continues its war on information in others, such as WikiLeaks.

Maria Hinojosa spoke with former NPR colleague John Dinges, professor of journalism at Columbia Journalism School and Carlos Lauría, senior Americas coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non profit organization that advocates for press freedom and journalists' rights around the world.