News coverage and Google searches of press freedom issues have fallen over the past 16 years, according to a new report.

The drop in interest from journalists writing about press freedom was “relatively steep” from July 2012 onwards but the decline over time was steadier within Google searches.

This is despite concerns of a global decline in press freedom in recent years, with more than half of the world’s population now said to be living in a country in which freedom of expression is categorised as “in crisis”.