By Lamara Garba
There is something sacred about ink when it refuses to lie.
There is something stubborn about truth when it insists on being heard, even in the presence of guns, prisons, and power.
And there is something profoundly human about the journalist, who stands between silence and society, choosing again and again to speak.
Perhaps we often forget how this day itself came to be. It was the United Nations, at its 1993 General Assembly, that proclaimed every 3rd of May as World Press Freedom Day, a date set aside not for ceremony alone, but for reflection, resistance, and renewal of commitment to the ideals of a free press.
This year’s theme, “Shaping a Future at Peace,” is not a slogan to be admired from a distance. It is a challenge. It is a responsibility. It is a warning. It reminds the world that journalism, free expression, and access to information are not just democratic ornaments but powerful instruments for peace, security, sustainable development, and economic recovery. At a time when global press freedom is increasingly under pressure, the theme speaks directly to a fragile world struggling to hold itself together.
Peace is not built in silence.
Peace is built in truth.
On this year’s World Press Freedom Day, the words of the European Union arrive not as distant diplomacy but as a moral echo of a world in distress: democracy cannot exist without a free press. That is not poetry. That is not a theory. That is survival.
A nation without a free press is not a nation at all. It is a carefully managed illusion.
The European Union reminds us, with the clarity of law and the urgency of conscience, that independent media is not a luxury. It is not decoration. It is the spine of democracy. Freedom of expression is not a polite suggestion; it is a fundamental human right. And when that right is bruised, beaten, or buried, the entire body of society limps.
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Yet, across continents and conflict zones, the journalist has become both witness and victim.
In the rubble and fire of Gaza, no fewer than over 100 journalists have been killed since the escalation of war, making it one of the deadliest places on earth for the press in modern history. These were not soldiers. They carried no weapons. Their only armour was a camera, a notebook, and courage. Still, they fell.
In the long and grinding war in Ukraine, more than 15 journalists have lost their lives, caught in the crossfire of a conflict that has redrawn maps and erased lives. Each death is a page torn from the book of truth, each silence a victory for darkness.
And beyond the bombs and bullets, in quieter but no less dangerous ways, journalists across the world face abuse, harassment, detention, and exile. Hundreds, well over 300 annually, are subjected to intimidation, a chilling reminder that repression does not always wear the uniform of war. Sometimes it wears a suit, signs a law, or hides behind a keyboard.
UNESCO has repeatedly warned that the world is witnessing an alarming rise in attacks on journalists, especially women, who endure not only professional risks but targeted gender-based violence and online abuse designed to silence them.
Silence, after all, is the ultimate goal.
And yet, silence is what the journalist refuses.
In Nigeria, the story is painfully familiar.
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We recall the troubling case of Agba Jalingo, a journalist who was arrested and detained for months over his reporting on alleged corruption. His ordeal was not just about one man. It was about a system uneasy with scrutiny. It was about the price of asking questions in a space where answers are often guarded like state secrets.
But even within this difficult landscape, voices of reform continue to rise.
The President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Alhassan Yahaya Abdullahi, has re-echoed the urgent need for a truly free press in Nigeria, insisting that democracy in the country will remain fragile without journalists who can operate without fear. He has also drawn attention to a quieter crisis within the profession itself: the poor working conditions faced by many Nigerian journalists.
From irregular salaries to the absence of adequate insurance and welfare packages, the reality for many practitioners is harsh and discouraging. Abdullahi’s call is clear and necessary that the dignity of the journalist must be restored, that media owners and stakeholders must rise to their responsibility, and that no society can expect courage from a press that is neglected and unprotected.
