Members of the International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, today issued a joint statement expressing their solidarity with journalists and members of the media community across the globe, as freedom of the press faces unprecedented assault and pressure by governments and powerful actors in every part of the world. As IPI marks its 75th anniversary this year, the IPI Executive Board of leading journalists, editors, and publishers affirms its unwavering commitment to IPI’s founding mission of defending press freedom and the rights of journalists wherever they are threatened. 

The undersigned members of the International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board stand in solidarity with journalists and the media community around the globe, in the face of alarming and escalating attacks on the press and other democratic institutions worldwide. 

We — leading journalists, editors, and publishers from 21 countries around the world — are united in our unwavering commitment to the principles of press freedom and the indispensable role that a free media plays in supporting free and democratic societies. The media serve a critical function in holding the powerful to account, exposing government overreach and abuse, and protecting our fundamental rights and liberties.

We are in an unprecedented moment of geopolitical instability and change. Authoritarianism is on the rise and the institutions of free society — including the rule of law and fundamental human rights principles — are under tremendous strain. At this moment, the work that journalists and media do is more critical than ever. 

IPI was founded 75 years ago, also at a time of great global uncertainty and division, in the aftermath of the Second World War and as the Cold War loomed. IPI was founded on the belief that freedom of the press and quality, fact-based journalism helps build a better, freer, and more peaceful world. 

For more than seven decades, we have stood at the forefront of advocating for the rights of journalists in the face of political pressure, censorship, and repression. We have stood with journalists seeking to report the truth from behind the Iron Curtain, with those fighting censorship in apartheid-era South Africa, with reporters braving dictatorships in all corners of the globe, and with those risking their lives to document the truth in wars past and present.

Throughout these decades, IPI has remained steadfast to its mission of defending press freedom and the rights of journalists wherever they are threatened.

Today, we stand in solidarity with our members and colleagues across the globe, who continue to report even as governments and other powerful actors attempt to vilify, discredit, or silence their work. 

Now is the time to stand together and reinforce and protect the essential work that journalists do. Without a free media, there is no free world. 

Signed,

Azhar Abbas, Managing Editor, Geo News Television, Pakistan

Raheem Adedoyin, Chairman, Editorial Board, Herald Newspapers, Nigeria

Simon Allison, Editor-in-Chief, The Continent, South Africa

Walid Batrawi, Media and communications expert, Palestine

Johannes Bruckenberger, Editor-in-Chief, News, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF),  Austria

John Daniszewski, Vice President and Editor at Large for Standards, retired, The Associated Press, U.S.

Barkha Dutt, Founding Editor, Mojo India, India

Borja Echevarría, Managing Editor, El País, Spain

Akio Fujii, Executive Chair of the Editorial Board, Nikkei Inc., Japan

Márton Gergely, Editor-in-Chief, HVG, Hungary

Alia Ibrahim, Co-founder and CEO, Daraj Media, Lebanon

Wolfgang Krach, Editor-in-Chief, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany

Espen Leirset, Editor-in-Chief, Innherred, Norway

Anne Leppäjärvi, Degree Director, Haaga-Helia UAS, Finland

James Stephenson, Executive News Editor, BBC News, UK

Paula Miraglia, Founder and CEO, Momentum – Journalism and Tech Task Force/Co-founder, director general and publisher, Gama Revista, Brazil

Amelia Newcomb, Senior Editor, Christian Science Monitor, U.S.

Esther Ng, Chief Content Officer, Star Media Group, Malaysia

Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Founder, The Bell, Russia

Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace laureate, Co-founder & CEO, Rappler, Philippines, Professor, SIPA, Columbia University

Daryna Shevchenko, CEO, Kyiv Independent, Ukraine

Ipek Yezdani, International Journalist, Türkiye