The Courage to Tell Dangerous Truths
It is more urgent than ever to support free and robust reporting.
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When Ukrainian authorities received more than 750 corpses in an exchange two months ago, they expected fallen soldiers. Inside one man’s body bag they found the remains of a young journalist, Viktoriia Roshchyna.
Skeletal, the body showed clear signs of torture, with parts of the head absent. Missing since mid-2023, she had been detained while researching stories of detentions and disappearances under Russian occupation. Previous articles had told of killings, abductions, intimidation.
"In a world awash with distortion and fabrications, journalists are not the problem, they are the antidote."
The only Ukrainian journalist still willing to travel into occupied areas, Roshchyna’s courage illustrates why the truth is dangerous – and why it is essential.
On this World Press Freedom Day, it is more urgent than ever to support free and robust reporting. Uncomfortable stories must be told, and it is the solemn task of journalists – managing risk as best they can – to tell them.
In war zones and under dictatorships, authorities establish information black holes, where media cannot travel. Under democracies, too, documents are withheld, media enterprises are sued, the profession itself is slandered.
Journalists have failings and biases like everyone else. But like Roshchyna, they believe profoundly in the value of telling human stories as honestly and as accurately as they can, even at such risk. Local journalists are especially important, providing the foundation for all international reporting yet lacking the protections, resources and ability to leave and get out of harm’s way.
In a world awash with distortion and fabrications, journalists are not the problem, they are the antidote. They are society’s eyes and ears, armed only with the courage and skill to tell the truth.
Journalists have many needs – resourcing and financial stability, enabling legal environments, safety and security. And accountability for those, such Roshchyna’s assassins, who mistakenly believe the death of a journalist can kill off the truth.
Above all, they need awareness among citizens and leaders alike of the essential role of truly free media in protecting the freedoms for all. On this day, and on every day, journalists deserve not condemnation but celebration. That is what World Press Freedom Day is all about.
