JUST PUBLISHED: World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Report, Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace.
Free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism is key for defending human dignity, advancing justice, and sustaining peace. Yet today, freedom of expression is under assault as seldom before.
UNESCO’s 2022/2025 World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Report, Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace, underscores the profound role of free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism as a cornerstone of democratic life and as an indispensable condition for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Despite some positive developments such as the expansion of social media access, growth in collaborative investigative journalism, subscription models, and legal recognition of community media, the Report reveals a 10% decline in the Freedom of Expression Index globally since 2012, and highlights weakened governance, hostility towards journalists, the climate crisis, and AI-driven dis and misinformation.
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Nevertheless, there is hope – journalism safeguards the civic space and can help restore trust in institutions. UNESCO tackles threats to freedom of expression through three key solutions:
- Safeguarding media viability by supporting independent journalism, including funding projects that help outlets innovate and transition digitally.
- Strengthening global cooperation on digital platform governance to protect freedom of expression, for instance through Global Guidelines for platform governance and fostering global cooperation among more than 120 regulatory bodies.
- Advancing media and information literacy by training over 10,500 journalists and content creators worldwide in the last year, helping citizens critically engage with information and safely navigate the digital landscape.
