The world press freedom day is a proclamation of the UN General Assembly on December 1993 which was made possible through a recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference held in Windhoek Namibia in 1991. It is celebrated on 3rd of may. This is the day journalists worldwide celebrates World Press Freedom Day and it serves as a reminder on need to respect their commitments. Some of the challenges they undergo includes surveillance and hacking. Surveillance can expose information collected and gathered by journalists including from whistleblowers which violates the principle of source protection. It may also harm the safety of journalists by disclosing sensitive private information which could end being used for harassments and attacks.
As per UNESCO, the day aims to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom,assess the state of press freedom around the world,defend the media against the attacks on its independence and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while performing their duty. Attacks, arrests and criminal prosecution of journalists has an addition effect of dissuading other journalists from critically reporting on relevant. Accurate information is a public good. The silencing of a journalist is a loss to society as a whole.
In 1948,it was emphasised in Article 19 of the universal Declaration of Human Rights to freedom of opinion,everyone has the right to express their opinion without fear and everyone has the right to receive and impart their ideas using press and media to the people.
This year's theme
From 2nd to 5th may 2022, Republic of Uruguay will be hosting the annual World Press Freedom Day Global Conference. The Global Conference gives opportunity for journalists,civil society representatives and national authorities to work together for identifying solutions. This year's theme is 'Journalism under Digital siege',focusing on digital era's impact on freedom of expression,the safety of journalists and access to information.
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