Press freedom shrinks, journalists targeted

Press freedom is under attack in every corner of the globe, with journalists continually harassed, jailed and killed, UN officials and media outlets have warned.

Speaking ahead of World Press Freedom Day yesterday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a rallying cry for journalists and media worldwide.

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"All our freedom depends on press freedom," he said in a video message, calling it the "foundation of democracy and justice" and the "lifeblood of human rights."

"But in every corner of the world, freedom of the press is under attack," Guterres added, addressing a conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

Highlighting the problem, Unesco awarded its 2023 World Press Freedom Prize to three Iranian women, two journalists and a human rights activist, who have been jailed.

While Guterres did not cast blame on specific countries, other speakers highlighted individual cases, such as that of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges he has rejected.

"The fight for press freedom, the fight for Evan's release is a fight for everybody's freedom," Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour told the forum.

Other journalists hit upon the rising dangers of the profession.

"I'm coming from a country, Iran, where being a journalist is a crime... (and) can land you in jail, can get you killed, can get you tortured," said Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist living in exile.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 55 journalists and four media workers were killed in the line of duty in 2022.

Guterres said journalists are "routinely harassed, intimidated, detained, and in prisons."

Others voiced similar concerns, with the head of Unesco also speaking out.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said it was not only direct repression that threatens journalists and freedom of information.

"The internet also unleashed the avalanche of misinformation, propaganda, punditry and clickbait that now overwhelms our information ecosystem...  accelerating the decline in societal trust," he said.