By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
World News Day, September 28, 2024, is a day of global public awareness, led by a campaign to recognize and acknowledge the value and importance of fact-based Journalism, and the essential role it plays in people’s daily lives.
The event is organized by the World Editors Forum (WAN-IFRA) and the Canadian Journalism Foundation.
For year 2024, the organizers are presenting a campaign titled: “Choose Truth” that has been conceived and designed by Daily Maverick’s Project Kontinuum.
Objectives of the audience-facing campaign are: reinforce journalism’s value to audiences, demonstrate the impact of fact-based journalism on society, ask the public to support credible news media, highlight risks of losing trusted news sources, and show strength through collaboration to counter a growing crisis.
Executive Director of World Editors Forum, Sherilyn Ireton, shedded light on the event. She said, “Come September 28, World News Day, we join hands in an effort to improve global understanding of news media’s central role in modern societies.
“Conceived by David Walmsley, the Globe and Mail’s Editor-in-Chief, World News Day is executed jointly by the Canadian Journalism Foundation and WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum. More than 500 newsrooms worldwide supported our campaign.
“Today, journalism is struggling to maintain its credibility and, for an alarming number of news organizations, daily existence equals quest for survival. A collective action is urgently needed to reaffirm the true value of journalism and to persuade more people to support and join our cause.
“Now, more than ever: journalism, news, facts, accountability, public service, humanity, scrutiny, independence, ethics, community – these words matter.
“In essence, World News Day 2024 is about never forgetting why we exist in the first place. What you and your colleagues around the world do in coming months and years and decades will matter to generations of news media professionals to come. Your commitment to these self-evident values will be an important help in the likely perilous journey.”
In his expression of opinion on World News Day titled: “Journalism Is Society’s Safety Net,” David Walmsley, Founder of World News Day, disclosed that a record number of newsrooms joined World News Day 2024, uniting over 600 media outlets and news professionals worldwide to raise awareness about the crucial role of Journalism in uncovering truth and holding power to account.
He said, “Amid increasing attacks on journalists and the rise of biased interest groups, the day serves as a reminder of the bravery and resilience of independent journalists who face personal risks to report the facts.”
According to Walmsley, World News Day emphasizes the vital connection between journalists and their communities, ensuring that the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, is shared and preserved for the public good.
A participating Egyptian journalist, Fatemah Farag, expressed perspective on community journalism on the topic: “The Journalism of Our Future.”
Farag underlined the vital role local journalism plays in empowering and sustaining democracy.
She said: “The work of journalists in their communities is nothing short of an expression of agency, citizenship and empowerment that are the building blocks of democracy.
“But from where I stand it is the daily hard work of citizenship on the small scale that can eventually build sustainable understanding and commitment to effective, inclusive democracy. And the work of those committed journalists who go to work everyday to report on and for their communities are central to that process.
“This is not an easy job. Building, managing and sustaining local, public service journalism capable of playing critical roles in supporting their communities is more often than not a thankless task.
“Across the world money has dried up as the business of journalism has been threatened by big tech, jobs have been shed, quality has been compromised, resources are fragmented and the value of journalism is constantly contested.”
Another participant, Carlos Chamorro, founder, Confidential Digital, a media outlet, shared his experience on the subject: “The Challenges of Journalism in Exile in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.”
He highlighted the challenges faced by independent journalists and media outlets in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela in the face of oppressive tactics used by authoritarian regimes.
He detailed the exodus of journalists seeking to continue their work in exile and emphasized the importance of independent journalism in providing alternative sources of information and upholding credible reporting in the face of censorship and persecution.
“Where the rule of law has collapsed, and where civil society is under siege or on the verge of extinction, the only defense of the independent press lies in its own credibility.
“The challenges of continuing doing journalism in exile are monumental. The most urgent is to provide security to journalists and collaborators, who are at risk, and to the news sources to communicate through secure channels. The most complex is to achieve financial sustainability of the newsrooms in exile,” Chamorro wrote.
World News Day: “We want to drive home the message that journalism, #JournalismMatters, and that media needs support,” the organizers explained.
