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At a time when disinformation and mistrust of the news media is growing, a free press is “essential for peace, justice, sustainable development and human rights”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message for World Press Freedom Day, marked on Friday.

No democracy is complete without access to transparent and reliable information, said Guterres, describing unfettered journalism as “the cornerstone for building fair and impartial institutions, holding leaders accountable and speaking truth to power." 

This year’s commemorations which began on Thursday across the world, are focusing on the powerful role that good reporting plays in championing democracy and free elections, when disinformation is becoming a larger problem in even the world’s oldest and most sophisticated democratic systems. 

“Facts, not falsehoods, should guide people as they choose their representatives”, said the UN chief, noting that “while technology has transformed the ways in which we receive and share information, sometimes it is used to mislead public opinion or to fuel violence and hatred.”

According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), almost 100 journalists were killed going about their work in 2018, with hundreds imprisoned. A total of 1,307 journalists were killed between 1994, and last year.

Guterres said he was “deeply troubled by the growing number of attacks and the culture of impunity…When media workers are targeted, societies as a whole pay a price.”

“On World Press Freedom Day, I call on all to defend the rights of journalists, whose efforts help us to build a better world for all,” he concluded.

Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland stressed in his World Press Freedom Day message that without freedom of expression there is no democracy, adding free and independent media is a part of modern democratic societies.

“The Council of Europe is especially concerned when journalists are prevented from doing their job or even physically attacked,” he said, stressing the working conditions of journalists need to be approved.

“The state of journalists’ freedom and safety in Europe has reached an alarming point. The killing of journalist Lyra McKee and the violence and intimidations against journalists covering demonstrations in several European countries are the most recent examples which show that press freedom in Europe is deteriorating,” said Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, ahead of the World Press Freedom Day.

“Over the past decades, World Press Freedom Day has provided an occasion to reflect on the state of press freedom and promote free, diverse and safe journalism. The problems are therefore well known, as are the standards and actionable solutions available to State authorities to increase journalists’ safety and freedom.

Reversing the current worrying trend is more a question of political will than of means. Member states should fully implement the standards that they adhered to."