World Press Freedom Day Today

Happy World Press Freedom Day! If only ...

It's looking precarious for press freedom, not just in Canada where we're only beginning the fight to protect our fundamental freedoms of speech, expression, thought, and press, but in fact world-wide. According to a press release from freedomhouse.org, "press freedom losses outnumber gains two to one":

While the survey indicated that setbacks in press freedom outnumbered advances two to one globally, there was some improvement in the region with the least amount of press freedom: the Middle East and North Africa. The survey attributes the gains in the Middle East and North Africa to a growing number of journalists who were willing to challenge government restraints, a pushback trend seen in other regions as well.

"For every step forward in press freedom last year, there were two steps back," said Windsor. "When press freedom is in retreat, it is an ominous sign that restrictions on other freedoms may soon follow. However, journalists in many countries of the world are pushing the boundaries, crossing the red-lines, demonstrating commitment and courage against great odds and we are seeing a greater global flow of information than ever before."

Read the full press release here.

And consider the trend in the following freedomhouse.org maps:

Let's not allow ourselves to become one of the losses.