On 3 May, the Council of Europe will mark World press freedom day, an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of media freedom, one of the essential pillars of democracy. It is an occasion to underline the crucial role that journalists and media play in informing the public, stimulating public debate and holding the powerful to account, as well as the critical importance of journalists being able to do their work safely, free from violence and intimidation.
Protection, prosecution, prevention and awareness-raising
Ten years ago in April 2016 the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, considering that it was alarming and unacceptable that journalists and media workers were increasingly being harassed, subjected to surveillance, intimidated, arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, physically attacked, tortured and even killed, adopted a comprehensive policy recommendation to its member states on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors.
The recommendation highlighted that the abuses and crimes against journalists, committed by both state and non-state actors, have a grave chilling effect on freedom of expression, as safeguarded by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The recommendation stands on four pillars: the protection of journalists and journalism, the prosecution of crimes against journalists, the prevention of such acts, and, finally, awareness-raising, information, and education about the role of journalists in society and their safety. It was complemented with the guide "How to protect journalists and other media actors?" to help states implement it in practice.
Journalists matter campaign focuses on prevention in 2026
In 2021, to counter the backsliding in the field of journalists' safety and media freedom, the Council of Europe’s Conference of ministers responsible for media and information society invited the Council of Europe to conduct, in addition to other measures, a campaign to promote the protection of journalists and their safety. Launched in Riga in 2023, the Council of Europe Journalists matter campaign for the safety of journalists is a pan-European initiative to promote press freedom and protect journalists from violence, threats and harassment.
The campaign’s annual thematic conference was held in Chișinău on 23 April and focused on the prevention pillar of the 2016 Committee of Ministers recommendation. The event examined how journalists’ safety and quality journalism are mutually reinforcing pillars of democratic resilience and the role of ethical journalism in reducing vulnerability to polarisation, manipulation and violence. The conference also addressed the challenges investigative reporters face in high-risk contexts, their role in countering disinformation and electoral interference, and the importance of protecting journalists to safeguard democratic processes.
To mark Press Freedom Day, the campaign has launched a new short video to raise awareness about the need for prevention measures to strengthen the safety of journalists and the protection of media freedom.
How does the Journalists matter campaign promote the safety of journalists?
The Journalists matter campaign’s main goal is to improve the safety conditions in which journalists work across Europe, notably by promoting the adoption and implementation of national action plans and the establishment of dedicated coordination mechanisms, including multi-stakeholder campaign committees bringing together public institutions, journalists, media organisations and civil society.
The campaign aims to strengthen legal and institutional standards for the protection of journalists. This includes ensuring effective remedies at the national level to address violations of media freedom, improving the investigation of crimes against journalists, and securing the proper sanctioning of perpetrators.
A total of 100 alerts on the safety of journalists platform in 2026
According to the annual report of the partner organisations to the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists, published in March, press freedom continues to face strong pressure in Europe. As of 30 April, 100 new alerts have been published on the platform in 2026.
In 2025, the platform partners published 344 alerts of serious threats to media freedom, a significant increase (+29%) from 2024, when 266 were registered. Ninety concerned attacks on journalists’ physical safety and integrity, the most frequent category of alerts. By 31 December 2025, 51 killings of journalists remained unresolved on the platform.
The platform partners found that this situation was mitigated by initiatives in several states and at the European level to improve press freedom and journalists' safety, including the adoption of action plans to protect journalists and legislation in some countries to address issues such as abusive lawsuits, disinformation and source protection.
The platform was set up by the Council of Europe in 2015, in co-operation with prominent international NGOs active in the field of freedom of expression and associations of journalists, to provide information that may serve as a basis for dialogue with member states about possible protective or remedial action.
The Council of Europe’s works extensively on freedom of expression. Learn more
