Publication
Journalism is a public good
ISBN: 978-92-3-100509-1
Collation: 160 pages
of the world鈥檚 population experienced a decline in press freedom in their country
Independent journalism鈥攖he kind that favours public interest over political, commercial, or factional agendas鈥攊s in peril. The rapid erosion of the business models underpinning media sustainability has deepened a crisis in the freedom and safety of journalists around the world. The global response to these challenges in the coming decade will be decisive for the survival of a democratic public sphere.
Over the past five years, approximately 85 percent of the world鈥檚 population experienced a decline in press freedom in their country. Even in countries with long traditions of safeguarding free and independent journalism, financial and technological transformations have forced news outlets, especially those serving local communities, to close. With readership and advertising markets moving online, advertising revenue for newspapers plummeted by nearly half in the ten-year period ending in 2019. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and its global economic impact have exacerbated this trend, now threatening to create an 鈥渆xtinction level鈥 event for independent journalism outlets.
The 2021/2022 global edition of the flagship series of reports on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development examines these questions with a special focus on 鈥渏ournalism as a public good鈥. The findings are grounded in data-based analysis, conducted by UNESCO in partnership with Data-Pop Alliance, of trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence, and the safety of journalists, and supplemented by original research by Economist Impact conducted for this Report.
