On May 03, 2024, World Press Freedom Day, journalists across Trinidad and Tobago join our colleagues across the globe in solidarity towards a free press, to mourn journalists – including an unprecedented number lost in the line of duty and in the war zone of Gaza — and to call for greater protection for all media workers.

When the Media Association of T&T was founded 37 years ago in the Express newsroom, its bedrock was to defend press freedom and the Fourth Estate as enshrined in T&T’s constitution.

On World Press Freedom Day, MATT pledges to remain vigilant on behalf of journalists, understanding that a strong democracy depends on free and fair media.

Internationally, MATT mourns alongside our colleagues the unprecedented number of journalists killed in 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported that “Seventy-two of the 99 journalists killed worldwide in 2023 were Palestinians reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza, making those 12 months the deadliest for the media in almost a decade.”

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has noted that at least 109 journalists and media workers have been killed, a mortality rate of over ten per cent – dramatically higher than any other occupational group. The IFJ noted that “since 7 October 2023, foreign journalists have been barred from the Gaza Strip.

“All the sounds, words and pictures broadcast from the enclave have come from approximately 1,000 Gazan journalists – around ten per cent of whom have now lost their lives.”

Gaza’s journalists, according to the IFJ, are operating under impossible conditions with “little food, water and fuel. Most are homeless and struggle to obtain such basic necessities as clothing, bedding and tents. Their mortality rate is without precedent.

Nearly all have lost loved ones. Despite this, Gaza’s journalists have continued to film, record, describe and document what has happened to their communities.

No group of journalists have paid so heavily to inform so many. PJS’ support work builds on many years of defending and promoting a free press in Palestine.”

In this context, the MATT supports the move by the IFJ to nominate its affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2024 as a means of honouring all Gaza’s journalists.

Created in 1997, this prize is awarded annually to a person, organisation, or institution that has made a notable contribution to defending or promoting press freedom, especially if risks have been involved. The laureate of this year’s prize will receive US $25,000 and a medal at a ceremony scheduled for World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2024.

According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – the situation is “dire” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries and satisfactory in only three out of ten.

MATT stands in solidarity with our fellow journalists globally and, on this day, redoubles its commitment to holding those in power to account and remaining a voice for the voiceless and standing strong as a pillar of democracy.