记者和媒体维权人士星期二聚集在赫尔辛基纪念世界新闻自由日之际，获得今年联合国教科文组织吉列尔莫·卡诺世界新闻自由奖的阿塞拜疆著名记者伊斯马伊洛娃的缺席引人注目，她因揭露政府腐败的报道被判处7年半徒刑，目前正在狱中。
保护记者委员会（CPJ）说，世界各地有大约200名记者像伊斯马伊洛娃一样被关在狱中，而监禁并不是政府打压媒体的唯一方法。
泰国记者普拉维也受邀前往赫尔辛基，但执政的军政府禁止他出境，这算是一个很小的代价，他最近写道，“其他地方的记者面临长期拘留，甚至被暗杀。”
自由之家在最新年度报告中说，全球新闻自由已经下降到十多年来的最低点。这份报告对199个国家和地区，包括民主和独裁地区作出评价。报告指出，“世界上仅有13％的人口享有新闻自由，也就是说，当地政治新闻报道强有力，记者的安全有保障，政府基本不太插手媒体事务，新闻界也不受繁重的法律或经济压力。”
When journalists and media rights activists gather in Helsinki to mark World Press Freedom day Tuesday, there will be a notable absence: Journalist Khadija Ismayilova, recipient of this year’s UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, is currently serving a 7.5-year sentence in Azerbaijan for her work exposing government corruption.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says some 200 journalists like Khadija are currently jailed across the world. And prison isn’t the only way that governments co-opt or suppress the media.
Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk was also invited to Helsinki, but the ruling military junta has banned him from leaving the country – a small price to be paid, he recently wrote, “as journalists elsewhere face long-term detention or even assassination.
Global press freedom has fallen to its lowest point in more than a decade, notes Freedom House in its latest annual report, which scores 199 countries and territories, democracies and autocracies. “Only 13 percent of the world’s population enjoys a free press—that is, where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures,” the report finds.