Today Is World Press Freedom Day. Here Are Three Ways to Strengthen and Support It.

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The press, where it’s free, is a central nervous system. It sends and receives signals, zaps and regulates information until the pathways are pinched by the malignant forces of misinformation or bad actors, or both.

But there’s good news on World Press Freedom Day, now in its third decade. This year’s theme is “information as a public good,” underscoring what the chief of UNESCO, which founded the day, calls “the indisputable importance of verified and reliable information” secured by journalists accountable to you. Mark the day three ways:

1. Join Nelufar Hedayat’s #DearWorldLive conversation about solutions to the jailing and repression of journalists around the world and the deepening divide between powerful politicians and reporters investigating them. Her guests are Syrian journalist Kholoud Helmi, who co-founded the nonprofit newspaper Enab Baladi, and Maria Salazar Ferro, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ emergencies director.

2. See the strides made by 250,000 petitioners seeking the release of jailed journalists, and thousands more supporting Free Turkey Media, a campaign launched four years ago by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.

3. Forward this Recharge to one person you know. Ask if they’ll sign up for the Mother Jones Daily newsletter if they haven’t. Whether it’s ours or another independent newsroom’s, keep the nervous system, and availability of information, protected.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

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The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

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