The 27th World Press Freedom Day was celebrated on the 3rd of May across the world under the theme “Journalism Without Fear or Favour” to spread knowledge and awareness of the urgency towards the safety and free speech of journalists and in order to ensure that authorities across the world uphold and respect the right to freedom of expression.
World Press Freedom Day, when compared to all other global celebrations, is relatively new. The World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), located in Argentina, was established in 1976 by several journalists in their bid to grow and defend the freedom of press. The WPFC is also a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange which operates together with several other organizations for the freedom of press and journalists.
In line with this, the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 inaugurated a day to reflect on the freedom of speech and transparent journalism internationally and thus, World Press Freedom Day was launched. This day was marked on the jubilee of the Declaration of Windhoek which is a statement of fundamentals of press freedom assembled in 1991 by the African Journalists to encourage an independent African press.
Each year, many unique and cultural functions are organized to highlight the significance of the freedom of press. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also coordinates many initiatives taken up by several countries in order to provide and promote knowledge on press freedom and freedom of expression.
The UNESCO organization bestows many awards to institutions or individuals who make contributions to the fight for Freedom of Press. During the year of 2018, the International Federation of Journalists had reported that at least 95 journalists were killed or died in their line of work. Organizations across the world are fighting to also eliminate the violence against journalists in high risk countries and especially countries of war.
Press freedom is intimately associated with the idea that sovereignty rests with the citizens. So in order for this sovereignty to be carried out properly, people need to be able to speak and do so freely without any threat by the government.
Recently, the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, noted that the next 10 years are going to prove importance of fighting for press freedom. The research showed and highlighted that the response to the pandemic has shown a very clear relationship between the levels of suppression on the media in several countries and their stance on the index which is released every year. Iran and global giant China are two key examples of countries who have largely suppressed the coverage during their recent outbreaks on the coronavirus and they currently rank as low as 173rd and 177th respectively.
Additionally, the U.S. only managed to land on the 45th spot with US President Donald Trump displaying repeated and open hostility towards many journalists right throughout this pandemic (Statista). Brazil is also ranked low at 107 while North Korea is at the rock bottom for clear reasons. It was also reported that the Northern Europe territory has the highest levels of media freedom worldwide and Norway was ranked number 1. It is followed by Finland and Denmark in the top-three while the top-five is rounded off by Sweden and the Netherlands.
Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose – George Orwell
Sources: UNESCO, Amnesty International, Statista and TIME.
