WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: UN warns of rising deployment of defamation, cybercrime to suppress media, protect the powerful

*Says 830 practitioners in detention for speaking truth to power

BY TOSIN ADAMS & ORIAKU IJELE

As the world marks the 2026 World Press Freedom Day, the UN has voiced concerns over growing attacks on journalists, warning that attacks on media workers must stop.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated this in a message ahead of World Press Freedom Day, observed annually on May 3.

Worldwide, roughly 330 media workers are currently detained along with some 500 citizen journalists and human rights bloggers, according to UN reports.

Similarly, laws on defamation, disinformation, cybercrime, and terrorism are increasingly being used to protect the powerful, while costly legal cases are being used to intimidate and silence journalists.

Türk said practically, no country offers a safe environment in which to be a journalist.

“When attacks on the media are normalised, freedom itself begins to decay, and with it, the foundations of peace, security, and sustainable development,” he warned.

The High Commissioner paid tribute to the courageous reporters and photographers across the world “who document horrific atrocities, expose corruption, and scrutinize business operations.”

He noted, however, that “journalism today has become an insecure and, at times, dangerous profession”.

He regretted that media workers have been “bombed in their cars, abducted from their offices, silenced behind bars, and dismissed from their jobs.”

No fewer than 14 journalists have been killed since January and only around a tenth of killings in the past two decades has led to full accountability.

According to him, covering armed conflict poses the highest risk adding, Israel’s war in Gaza has become a death trap for the media.

“My Office has verified the killing of nearly 300 journalists since October 2023, with many more injured,” he said.

Türk said that local reporters who are covering wars, such as the journalists he met in Sudan “had faced extreme violence, brutality, and even famine”.

According to him, journalists face hostile environments while trying to continue their essential work.

Türk warned that “virtually no country is truly safe for those who speak truth to power.”

The High Commissioner pointed to his recent visit to Mexico, where reporting on corruption, environmental harm or organized crime has exposed journalists, their sources and even their families to grave risks.

“I am deeply concerned that media workers are the primary targets of growing transnational repression and surveillance – most recently seen in attacks against Iranian journalists abroad,” he said.

The UN rights chief voiced concern over online harassment and bullying, which disproportionately affects women journalists, three-quarters of whom have suffered abuse such as smear campaigns and threats of sexual violence.

Such attacks “risk creating a disinformation society, in which the media is forced to obscure facts and deny science to operate in safety.”

He also appealed for tech companies to take meaningful action against online abuse and disinformation, and underlined the importance of maintaining independence, transparency, and integrity within media institutions.

In his message for the Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres affirmed that “recent years have seen a sharp rise in the number of journalists killed, often deliberately targeted, in war zones.”

The UN chief noted a popular saying that truth is the first casualty in war.

“Far too frequently, the first casualties are the journalists who risk everything to report that truth – not only in war, but wherever those in power fear scrutiny.”

Guterres regretted that press freedom is also under “unprecedented strain” due to “economic pressures, new technologies, and active manipulation”.

The UN scribe urged governments to prevent attacks against media workers, protect them from surveillance, including when working abroad, investigate violations and ensure accountability.