UPDATE: Rally in Paris to defend press freedom, “attacked everywhere”
In breaking news, the following story has emerged from the international scene.
Rally in front of Paris City Hall on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2026. JULIE SEBADELHA / AFP A few hundred people gathered at the initiative of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Paris, Sunday May 3, World Press Freedom Day, to denounce unprecedented attacks around the world. “The duty to inform / The right to be informed”, could be read in French, English and Spanish on a long banner displayed in front of City Hall, where the demonstrators gathered. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The French Observatory on attacks on press freedom reveals its first report Read later “The press is attacked everywhere, on all grounds, including on grounds where there is no war,” Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Even in the largest democracy, the United States, there is a war on journalists, daily life and working conditions are extremely difficult,” he warned. Alongside members of UNESCO and the League for Human Rights, the majority of demonstrators were part of the IFJ, which opens its congress on Monday and celebrates its centenary. Founded in 1926, this federation is the largest organization of journalists in the world: it represents 600,000 media professionals in 187 unions and associations in more than 140 countries. It supports journalists and their unions, defends human rights, democracy and media pluralism. “A hundred years later, this international solidarity is more necessary than ever. We see this through our various actions around the world, in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen and Palestine,” he underlined. Alarming observation Press freedom has reached its lowest level in a quarter of a century, according to Reporters Without Borders, which published its annual world ranking created in 2002 on Thursday. France ranks 25th (“rather good situation” according to RSF). According to a survey by the Forbidden Stories collective, conducted among around 200 journalists who have already been worried in 53 countries, 70% of respondents believe that collaborative and cross-border investigations are the most effective way to resist threats. “The release of journalists and media professionals arbitrarily detained is an imperative”, for his part underlined on Sunday the spokesperson for the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, recalling that France continued to “act with the Algerian authorities” to obtain the release of sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, arrested in May 2024. “Faced with restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in many countries around the world, as well as the spread of false information and increasing manipulation of information, France recalls that the freedom to inform and to be informed is essential to the exercise of democracy,” continues the press release from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Read the decryption | Article reserved for our subscribers The “ubiquitous” conviction of Christophe Gleizes, a French journalist, to seven years in prison in Algeria Read later Le Monde with AFP
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by International : Toute l’actualité sur Le Monde.fr. and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.