This year, the theme of UNESCO’s annual World Press Freedom Day was “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.” Yet despite the celebratory events lauding the importance of independent public interest media and the role of a free press in democratic governance, the pressure on journalism has never been greater.
Over the past year, I spoke to more than a hundred journalists and media managers around the world to better understand how to provide more effective and scalable support to news organizations in the face of ever-mounting economic and political pressure. The resulting report for Internews, “Understanding and Responding to Global Emerging News Threats” (URGENT), addresses structural and economic challenges that news outlets face when working in high-pressure conditions, such as crisis and exile.
Some of URGENT’s recommendations echo perennial needs, like providing more core support to news outlets with fewer strings attached, while others highlight new ideas such as creating collective infrastructure for data sharing and learning.