3 May was World Press Freedom Day, a celebration instituted by UNESCO. In a joint message, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova reminded everyone that today many journalists continue to be subjected to intimidation, threats and violence in a persistent climate of impunity.
David Maggiore, Vice-President for the Italian division of Reporters without Borders, says: “We have seen a new mechanism come into play in the wars that have been fought over the last 20 years, namely: the fact that it is getting harder and harder for reporters to be present in battle zones because of the very high risk that they might be kidnapped, if not outrightly killed.
This means that a lot of information must be obtained through new channels like social networks. But information garnered in this way is not easy to verify, making it more and more important that reporters personally visit hot spots around the globe. We must never give up the determination to be eyewitnesses to these events because journalism is all about investigating situations through direct contact with them.”