World Press Freedom Day 2023

Drone Journalism Holds Great Potential to Improve Safety of Journalists in Africa’s Volatile Situations

By Joyce Chimbi
In a departure from the past, where journalists in Kenya have freely covered anti-government protests unharmed, a series of events that unfolded in March 2023 have heightened fears of the re-emergence of brutal physical attacks on journalists. According to the Media Council of Kenya, in a span of two weeks, more than 25 journalists were harassed, arrested and held in police cells, physically attacked, expensive equipment destroyed and footage deleted during the opposition-led demonstrations.

World Press Freedom Day 2023


 

World Press Freedom Day was inaugurated by the United Nations in 1993. The 3rd of May will mark its 30th anniversary with the theme of:

Safeguarding the Future of Independent Media – & Our Democracies

By Khadija Patel
There’s a now familiar groan every time the lights go out in South Africa. Due to a critical shortage of electricity, the national power utility institutes a daily regimen of scheduled power cuts.

UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists

By Audrey Azoulay
Freedom of the press is the cornerstone of democratic society. Without a debate of ideas, without verified facts, without diversity of perspectives, democracy is a shadow of itself; and World Press Freedom Day was established to remind us of this.

A Proposal for a UN Freedom of Information Act Never Got Off the Ground

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations has consistently been a vociferous advocate of freedom of the press – and, most importantly, the right of journalists to report without fear of reprisals. But regrettably, the UN is also one of most opaque institutions where transparency is never the norm.

Media Freedom is Vital but have we Passed Peak Press?

By Farhana Haque Rahman
Peak oil was first up, followed by peak gas, gold and others, as if the world was draining natural resources like toilet roll panic buying in a lockdown supermarket. But should we now be worried about Peak Press?