Written by Micaela Del Monte.
In 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared 3 May World Press Freedom Day, acting on a recommendation adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991. This year will mark the 32nd anniversary of the day, with UNESCO and other international partners organising special events around the world.
State of play of media freedom: From 1993 to the present
The date of 3 May was chosen to be World Press Freedom Day to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek promoting an independent and pluralistic African press. Adopted by the journalists participating in a seminar organised by UNESCO in Windhoek, Namibia, in the spring of 1991, the declaration highlighted the essential link between democracy and independent, pluralistic and free media, and called on the African countries and the international community to strengthen media freedom on the African continent. Although the declaration focused on the challenges faced by African countries in ensuring a free and pluralistic media landscape in the early 1990s, many of these challenges remain valid to this day in Africa and the rest of the world. Examples of these challenges include: capture of media outlets by governmental, political or economic powers; establishment of media monopolies; exposure of journalists to all kinds of repression, from murder to unlawful detention; fragility of professional associations of journalists and editors unable to protect their members’ interests and rights; and excessive administrative barriers obstructing the setting up of new media outlets.
Digital technologies have now taken the world by storm, and changes in news consumption have brought new challenges. Newspaper sales continue to plummet, while the number of internet and social media users continues to rise. Readers and advertisers are increasingly choosing the internet as their source of information and the place to buy and sell products. All this is calling the economic viability of traditional media into question. Internet intermediaries are now the gatekeepers of freedom of expression and information, influencing critically the way we receive and impart information and sometimes acting as vectors or even accelerators of misinformation and disinformation. Governments around the world are resorting to internet shutdowns and other measures to silence online speech.
In light of these developments, the latest UNESCO Global Report on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development (2021/2022), with information from 144 countries, raised the alarm about the decline in press freedom worldwide. According to UNESCO, between 2016 and 2021, 85 % of the world’s population suffered an erosion of press freedom in their country. The report also identified three major challenges inhibiting access to information: the safety of journalists; the regulation of online speech and the functioning of digital gatekeepers; and the economic viability of the media. The 2025 edition of the Global Report will be released by the end of 2025. The latest data collected by Reporters Without Borders confirm a particularly dangerous situation for journalists. At the time of writing, 557 journalists are detained around the world because of their activity, 15 have lost their lives since January 2025, and 99 are missing.
Media freedom as a fundamental right and journalism as a public good
Against this backdrop, 3 May reminds us that freedom to seek, disseminate and receive information from different angles and perspectives on issues of public interest is a public good and vital to building a healthy and pluralistic civic space in which democratic institutions and a healthy political debate can flourish. Without free and pluralistic media acting as public watchdogs, citizens cannot access the information they need to make sound political choices, and accountability is severely impaired. The media also offer citizens analysis of ongoing events, serve as a public forum in which different voices can be heard, and interact with and help citizens to understand an increasingly complex world. The meaningful role played by the media in healthy democratic societies is recognised by the main universal and regional treaties on human rights, which entrench media freedom and pluralism in their provisions on freedom of expression and information. The Preamble to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes freedom of speech as one of four rights that represent ‘the highest aspirations of the common people’ (the remaining three being freedom of belief, freedom from fear and freedom from want). Article 19 of the declaration enshrines freedom of opinion and expression, including the right not only to hold opinions but also to seek, receive and impart information and ideas ‘through any media and regardless of frontiers’. Freedom of information is also upheld in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 19), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 13) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 21), and in the main regional treaties on human rights: the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 10), the American Convention on Human Rights (Article 13) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Article 9). Considering the international obligations assumed by countries around the world, 3 May acts as a reminder of their commitment to respecting media freedom. However, it is not only about commitments. As highlighted by UNESCO, 3 May is also a day to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in pursuit of a story, to defend media from attacks on their independence, and to assess the state of play of media freedom worldwide. This year, UNESCO’s 32nd World Press Freedom Day Conference will focus on the impact of artificial intelligence on press freedom and the media.
EU actions to protect media freedom and pluralism
Within the European Union, media freedom and pluralism are also codified as fundamental rights in Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Moreover, the Court of Justice of the EU has systematically stressed the link between the safeguarding of those rights and the flourishing of a democratic and pluralistic society (C‑555/19; C‑719/18). In this vein, EU institutions are increasingly dedicating attention and resources to monitoring the state of play of media freedom and pluralism in the EU and addressing the risks identified.
The European Commission monitors risks to media freedom in the EU Member States in its annual rule of law report (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). Additionally, since 2014, the Media Pluralism Monitor project, co-funded by the EU, has been publishing reports assessing weaknesses in the EU Member States’ and candidate countries’ media systems that could hinder media pluralism. The 2024 editions of these reports confirm a negative shift regarding the journalistic profession, owing to an increase in the number of online and offline threats to journalists combined with abusive legal threats (also known as SLAPPs). These reports also highlight concerns over media concentration in the EU and the need to protect media from government control, and stress the increasing number of attacks and threats against journalists.
The EU institutions have increasingly paid attention to the need to guarantee media freedom and pluralism within the EU. The European Parliament has been an outspoken advocate for freedom of information and the protection of journalists both within (2017, 2020, 2021, 2023) and outside (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) the EU. The Council too has adopted conclusions on the protection and safety of journalists (2022) and on safeguarding a free and pluralistic media system (2020). In its European democracy action plan (2020) and its action plan to support recovery and transformation of Europe’s media (2020), the von der Leyen I Commission provided financial support for EU media companies to help them address their viability problems and face the twin digital and green transitions. It also focused on the safety of journalists in its recommendation on the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists (2021), addressed to the EU Member States.
During the ninth legislative term (2019-2024), Parliament and the Council adopted two important pieces of legislation to protect media freedom and journalists in the EU, namely: Directive (EU) 2024/1069 on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings (Strategic lawsuits against public participation – SLAPPs), and Regulation (EU) 2024/1083 establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market and amending Directive 2010/13/EU (the European Media Freedom Act). The EU has continued to strengthen its efforts to counter information manipulation and interference, including online disinformation, and supported the drafting of the 2018 Code of Practice on Disinformation, recently strengthened (2022) by Commission guidance. More recently, in July 2024 Ursula von der Leyen included the European Democracy Shield initiative in her political guidelines for the new term, with a view to proactively countering foreign information manipulation and interference without compromising freedom of expression. In December 2024, Parliament decided to set up a special Committee on the European Democracy Shield.
This ‘at-a-glance’ note updates a 2023 note written by Maria Diaz Crego.
Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘2025 World Press Freedom Day‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
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