The Courage of Local Voices
The painstaking work of proper journalism is the bedrock of our freedoms.
Also see
Gaza: “Everyone Has a Family in Danger”
How local journalists cover the story amid intense physical and mental peril for themselves - and their loved ones.
Israel’s Media Blindness Over Gaza
Why there’s such a gap between what Israelis and the rest of the world see on their TV screens and social media feeds.
Ukraine’s Information Vacuum
Those living under occupation can only get their news from Russian media and social networks.
Afghanistan: Journalism Amid the Darkness
Despite brutal repression, independent outlets continue to provide a rare and precious source of information.
Latin America: Journalism Continues to Hold Power to Account
Despite coming under constant attack, independent media are achieving remarkable impact.
Pressure Builds on Central Asia Media
Freedom of speech in Central Asia has deteriorated in recent years, with fresh restrictions on media and bloggers alike and a growing number of criminal cases initiated against journalists.
Moldova Struggles to Balance Security and Free Speech
Opinion remains divided on how effective bans on pro-Kremlin outlets have been in protecting country’s information space.
Press Freedom Struggles in Kenya
Cases of harassment have mounted amid a surge in police brutality as well as overt government antagonism.
Local journalism is living with and being part of a community, finding your best courage and skill to give it voice, suffering with that community, too.
On this World Press Freedom Day, we grapple to come to terms with the scale of journalists lost in Gaza – estimated at 100. Many of these were not out on the street reporting but, according to best available information, were killed in the places where they were staying, homes or elsewhere.
Amid a world of challenges confronting the global information landscape, local media face rising threats. As IWPR’s special package highlights, governments are seeking to create media vacuums shorn of reliable independent information and showered with AI-driven distortions and propaganda streams.
This ranges from repression in Afghanistan and Iran, to censorship and prison in China, to arrest and control in Russia and in occupied areas in Ukraine. In several states in Eurasia, “foreign agent” laws are being deployed to shut down civil society and independent media. In Israel, critical voices face harassment and abuse.
"Amid a world of challenges confronting the global information landscape, media face rising threats."
IWPR bears its own scars, and on this day we remember our colleague Ammar al-Shahbandar, killed in Baghdad in the eve of World Press Freedom Day 2015, as well as Zahar al-Haidari (2007) and others who lost their lives in the service of reporting the truth.
Yet our reports also reveal that, amid the gloom, glimmers of hope emerge through the courage of local voices who refuse to be silenced. Local journalists inside Afghanistan still find ways to get the story out. Ukrainian reporters are providing some of the most important reporting from the front. Latin America and the Caribbean remain among the most dangerous environments for journalists, but their investigative reporting continues to have real impact.
Reporters are not foreign agents, they are citizens, and the painstaking work of proper journalism is the bedrock of our freedoms. Strengthening the media is a complex task that requires long-term commitment. The essential starting point is a global political and cultural consensus that supports a free press as the cornerstone of democracy and celebrates the free flow of ideas. This is the essence and purpose of World Press Freedom Day.
