Whether you live in Chevery or Crawford Bay; Inuvik or Ile des Chênes; Toronto or Torbay—in this digital world, a free press is critical to the health of your community.
May 3rd was World Press Freedom Day, a day that honours the world’s journalists and the work that they do. This year’s theme is Journalism under digital siege.
A free press helps us make sense of what is happening around us. Journalists hold governments accountable, ask necessary questions, point out injustices, confirm facts, and keep us safe. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights confirms the importance of freedom of the press.
Reporters Without Borders, a global organization that publishes the World Press Freedom Index, reports that this year social polarization, amplified by media polarisation, has increased, and it is fuelling divisions within countries and between countries. At least 16 journalists have been killed while doing their jobs so far this year.
In Canada, a 2021 IPSOS survey found that about 7 in 10 media workers reported harassment in the past year, and the Canadian Association of Journalists/L’Association canadienne des journalistes reports that women and people of colour are often the most targeted by these forms of hate and intimidation.
Catherine Fisher, blogger
