Antonio Guterres
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
VIDEO MESSAGE ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2021
“JOURNALISM AS A PUBLIC GOOD: 30 YEARS OF THE WINDHOEK DECLARATION”
New York, 3 May 2021
The global challenges we have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic underline the critical role of reliable, verified and universally accessible information in saving lives and building strong, resilient societies.
During the pandemic, and in other crises including the climate emergency, journalists and media workers help us navigate a fast-changing and often overwhelming landscape of information, while addressing dangerous inaccuracies and falsehoods.
In too many countries, they run great personal risks, including new restrictions, censorship, abuse, harassment, detention and even death, simply for doing their jobs. The situation continues to worsen.
The economic impact of the pandemic has hit many media outlets hard, threatening their very survival.
As budgets tighten, so too does access to reliable information. Rumours, falsehoods and extreme or divisive opinions surge in to fill the gap.
I urge all governments to do everything in their power to support a free, independent and diverse media.
Free and independent journalism is our greatest ally in combatting misinformation and disinformation.
The United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists aims to create a safe environment for media workers across the globe – because information is a public good.
Today, we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent and Pluralistic African Press. Despite dramatic changes in the media over the past three decades, the Declaration’s urgent call for press freedom and free access to information is as relevant as ever.
Let’s reflect on its message, and renew our efforts to protect media freedom – so that information remains a lifesaving public good for all.
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In Ukraine, a brutal, bloody war caused by Russian aggression continues, claiming lives, destroying homes, demolishing infrastructure, and inflicting incalculable harm on the environment and surrounding natural ecosystems. Ukraine, more than anyone else in this world, strives for peace, as we bear the daily brutality of this Russian-Ukrainian war. We are at the forefront of the struggle for the right to life, freedom, and justice. Ukraine seeks a just peace that will lay a solid foundation for a stable future for Europe and the World, and the only way of achieving this is to implement President Volodymyr Zelensky's Peace Formula (the Ukrainian Peace Formula).
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On the eve of a large-scale flood approaching Baku, a disturbing incident occurred in the village of Buzovna, where a Lada Priora car fell into the ground, literally collapsing the road beneath it. The driver miraculously remained unharmed but vowed to seek justice, promising to file an official complaint with the prosecutor’s office against Azersu OJSC, the state-owned water supply and sewerage company, often associated with deeply rooted corruption.
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In a bit of historic irony, powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili has managed to inspire rare unity across Georgia’s cacophonous political scene twice in his life. His money and influence forged the broad-based consolidation of opposition forces that brought him to power in 2012, and now, 12 years and three electoral cycles later, a similar pattern of opposition convergence could send him packing.
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Russian authorities and pro-Kremlin influencers have been spreading false information about alleged Reporters Without Borders (RSF) research into Nazi tendencies within the Ukrainian military, which was featured in a viral video falsely attributed to the BBC. RSF exposes the inner workings of a disinformation campaign designed to justify President Vladimir Putin's war narrative.
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