A free and independent media is vital for a healthy democracy and to build peaceful and prosperous societies. Yet media freedom today is in poor health, as conflict, a rise in authoritarianism, disinformation, and new digital technologies are posing threats to independent journalism and journalists. In our new episode of the UN Human Rights Podcast, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists, talk about the state of media freedom and the safety of journalists around the world. “Journalists play an absolutely crucial role in enabling us to exercise all of our other human rights,” said Ginsberg. For Türk, the record numbers of journalists killed, put behind bars or taken to court for doing their job is unacceptable. He called on States and all actors to guarantee a free and independent media. In the podcast, Ginsberg and Türk also touch on the legal harassment of journalists, the safety of women journalists, the use of surveillance tools against media, and journalism in the face of the environmental crisis, which is the subject of this year’s World Press Freedom Day. Listen to Humanity Unites: World Press Freedom Day