A call for action

The troubling trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence, viability, gender equality, and safety of journalists highlighted in this Report should be a call to redouble efforts.

Without urgent action by governments, civil society, and private companies, trustworthy journalism will remain under threat, and information as a public good severely under-nourished.

Without media and information literacy and internet transparency, humanity may be diverted away from addressing the real problems of sustainable development and securing human rights more broadly.

New forms of self-regulation by news producers, new regulations for social media platforms, state subsidies to trustworthy news outlets and greater support for public service media, increased media development assistance, a redoubling of philanthropic investments, all while steadfastly guarding standards of editorial independence and freedom of expression: these are just a few of the measures that may be required to ensure that journalism can continue to function as a necessary public good.