Journalists Continue to Pay a Heavy Price for Telling the Truth: Guterres

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that journalists around the world continue to pay a heavy price for telling the truth, calling for justice and accountability for crimes committed against media workers.

In a message marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed on November 2, Guterres warned that targeting journalists and silencing their reporting deprives the public of access to information and makes everyone a victim.

“When journalists are targeted and their reporting is extinguished, it makes victims of us all,” he said, stressing the need for justice.

The Secretary-General noted that impunity for crimes against journalists remains widespread, with the vast majority of killings of media workers going unpunished. He urged governments to take concrete steps to investigate and prosecute those responsible, and to create a safe environment in which journalists can carry out their essential work.

Guterres also highlighted the broader consequences of attacks on the press, warning that a free and independent media is indispensable to democratic societies. When journalists are intimidated into silence, he said, corruption flourishes, accountability erodes and public trust in institutions weakens.

The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists was established by the UN General Assembly to raise awareness of the dangers faced by media workers and to press for an end to the cycle of violence and impunity that surrounds attacks on the press.

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