Running under the theme “Journalism Under Digital Siege”, this year’s celebration received massive support and participation across the World. The Digital sphere has been one of the accelerators of Journalism and at the same time one of the most dangerous.
ORIGIN OF WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
An African Journalist presented the idea to encourage press freedom in different parts of the world in 1991. This was during a UNESCO conference held in Windhoek.
Two years down the road, UNESCO finally bought the idea. The Windhoek Declaration was adopted on May 3 in 1993. The chief aim of this declaration was towards the “development of a free, independent and pluralistic press.”
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JOURNALIST IN AFRICA
Whenever people choose to undertake a certain profession, they do not envision the suffering and stringent conditions. Sadly, this has been the case with Journalists, especially in Africa.
Stories have been told of how Journalists have gone for long periods without receiving their payment. This leaves journalists with no means to cater for themselves and even invest in quality investigation and reporting of news.
To make matters worse, “On many occasions, when these journalists speak out, they are threatened with dismissal from their places of work”, Abubaker Lubowa, a Journalist for Ugandan based Newspaper, the Daily Monitor.
Furthermore, Journalists are imprisoned and at times even killed in their line of duty. Regardless, Journalists never stop on their mission of uncovering and delivering truth and facts to the people.
Salem Solomon, an Eritrean born Editor at Voice of Africa says “In 2021 alone, 46 journalists were detained in Ethiopia, making Ethiopia one of the worst jailers of journalists in Africa.”
THE FINAL APPEAL
Regardless of the challenges at hand, it’s a humble appeal to all Journalists not to give up and keep doing the work. Governments and all other institutions should work together to provide Journalists with a conducive environment where they can freely do their work.
