(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 03 - '' In too many countries journalists and media operators face censorship, abuse, harassment, detention and even death, simply to do their job '': said the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres in the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. "I urge all Governments - added Guterres to do everything in their power to support free, independent and diversified media".
"Threatening a journalist means threatening everyone's freedom. Without an independent press there is no true democracy. The European Parliament stands alongside all journalists who are intimidated while they carry out their essential work", commented Eurochamber president David Sassoli.
The European External Action Service headed by the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, for his part, observed that "in times of Covid 19 it is clearer than ever that access to reliable information can be a matter of life or of death. Yet, the news has become a daily odyssey. Journalism is the vaccine against infodemic.
Let's protect it ".
Pope Francis also expressed himself on the subject: "Let us use all the tools we have, especially the powerful tool of the media, to build and strengthen the common good. Let's commit ourselves to #MediaforPeace. #Signis," he wrote in a tweet. (HANDLE).