World Press Freedom Day

Driven by the deaths of 600 journalists over the past decade, this year’s World Press Freedom Day conference is devoted to the theme of promoting safety and ending impunity for journalists, bloggers and everyday citizens who cross red lines to speak their minds.

Sudan should immediately stop censoring newspapers and end all forms of repression of media and journalists, Human Rights Watch said on World Press Freedom Day.

Freedom Forum recorded an upsurge in press freedom violations in Nepal in the past year, affecting nearly 300 journalists, says the group in a report issued on World Press Freedom Day.

A report on creative freedom in China was released in tandem with an Open Letter to authorities signed by more than 100 global literary and cultural figures.

As a whole, Southeast Asia has moved backward on media freedom in 2012 with more restrictive laws being enacted by governments, while in many countries journalists and civil society continue to be threatened by violence.

In the 2013 Review of Free Expression in Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression highlights a serious issue in Canada: a cult of secrecy. From the silencing of scientists to police posing as journalists to the surveillance of aboriginal activists, this pervasive issue threatens citizens’ right to free expression and undermines democratic society.

CPJ’s 2013 Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free.

World Press Freedom Day arrives in Palestine on 3 May this year in the wake of tough times. Palestinian journalists continue to struggle for freedom of expression indifferent to the ongoing attempts at silencing them.

Thousands of newspapers commemorated World Press Freedom Day on 3 May with a message that press freedom is more important than ever as the practice of free and independent journalism remains under threat worldwide.

Turkish media freedom defenders flew kites with the photos of 62 jailed journalists in front of the Court in Istanbul to draw attention to judges and prosecutors about their cases on World Press Freedom Day.

Among the measures announced during today’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations include the speeding up of thorough investigations into the killing of journalists and better collaboration between security agencies and media workers in Somalia.

The National Union of Somali Journalists confirmed through regular and systematic documentation that 2012 was the deadliest year in history for Somali media.

Globe International Centre and the Mongolian Journalists Association discuss website regulation and hand out media freedom award at World Press Freedom Day 2013 event in Mongolia.

On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders releases an updated list of 39 Predators of Freedom of Information – presidents, politicians, religious leaders, militias and criminal organisations that censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and kill journalists and other news providers; predators who consider themselves above the law.

The Ethiopian government should mark World Press Freedom Day by immediately releasing all journalists jailed under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law.

The dangers to press freedom hit close to home recently when staff at IFEX member ARTICLE 19 of Mexico received an anonymous death threat aimed at stopping their efforts to end impunity for crimes against the media – which is also a theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day.