World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development

The report details a global crisis in journalism characterized by collapsing business models, rising state repression, and the proliferation of disinformation. It highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these trends, leading to increased press freedom violations and financial instability for news outlets. The document advocates for treating journalism as a public good and calls for urgent action from governments and the private sector to ensure media viability and the safety of journalists.

• The economic foundations of the news media industry are in crisis due to a rapid shift in advertising revenue toward large internet companies. Google and Facebook (Meta) now capture approximately half of all global digital advertising spending, contributing to a decline in newspaper advertising revenue by two-thirds over the last ten years.
• Press freedom has declined measurably since 2012, with at least 160 countries maintaining criminal defamation laws. Additionally, 44 countries have adopted or amended at least 57 laws since 2016 that threaten press freedom and online expression through vague language or disproportionate punishments.
• The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for press freedom violations globally. Research indicates that pandemic-related measures were used to justify such violations in 96 out of 144 countries studied in 2021.
• Journalists face severe safety risks, including killing, kidnapping, and arbitrary detention. Between 2016 and 2020, 400 journalists were killed for their work. Impunity is widespread, with only about 13% of journalist killings recorded by UNESCO since 2006 being judicially resolved.
• Women journalists are disproportionately targeted by online violence. A 2020 survey of 714 women-identifying journalists across 125 countries revealed that 73% had experienced online violence during their work.
• Media pluralism is threatened by 'media capture,' where outlets are ostensibly free but lack actual independence. A study of 546 state-administered media entities in 151 countries found that nearly 80% lacked editorial independence.
• Disinformation has become an existential risk, often spreading faster and more broadly than factual information on social media. In 2020, a Gallup poll across 142 countries found that 57% of internet users were concerned about receiving false information.

APA

Rowley, S. (2022). World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development. World Association for Christian Communication. https://waccglobal.org/world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development/

Chicago

Rowley, Saskia. World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development. World Association for Christian Communication, 2022. https://waccglobal.org/world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rowley |first1=Saskia |title=World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development |publisher=World Association for Christian Communication |date=19 August 2022 |url=https://waccglobal.org/world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rowley2022world, author = {Rowley, Saskia}, title = {{World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development}}, institution = {World Association for Christian Communication}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://waccglobal.org/world-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-and-media-development/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }