The UNESCO World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Report (2022/2025) highlights the essential role of free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism in sustaining democracy, advancing justice, and promoting peace.

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Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace

Free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism is key for defending human dignity, advancing justice, and sustaining peace. Yet today, freedom of expression is under assault as seldom before.The 2022/2025 World Trends Report,Journalism: Shaping a World at Peace, underscores the profound role of free, independent, pluralistic, and professional journalism as a cornerstone of democratic life and as an indispensable condition for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Despite some positive developments such as the expansion of social media access, growth in collaborative investigative jour-nalism, subscription models, and legal recognition of community media, this new Report reveals a 10% decline in the Freedom of Expression Index globally since 2012, and highlights weakened governance, hostility towards journalists, the climate crisis, and AI-driven dis and misinformation. Progress on gender equality has stalled, and women continuously face discrimination and violence. These trends undermine human rights, media freedom and plurality, and well-informed citizenship.

The 2022/2025 World Trends Report emphasizes the urgency of supporting international norms, strengthening information integrity, and fostering trusted information to protect democracy, promote accountability, and ensure access to information as a public good, particularly for vulnerable populations and youth.