Violence, harassment, repression, and censorship against journalists is at record highs, with the Committee to Protect Journalists recording the highest (2022) and second-highest (2023) numbers of journalists imprisoned since it started tracking this figure 30 years ago

The rise of digital media has helped make information manipulation both more sophisticated and widespread. But, just as most people would not merely accept a broken system when it comes to the power grid, education, or public health, society should not view the media ecosystem as beyond repair. Instead, just like these other social goods, citizens are entitled to transparent, fact-based journalism.

As a young person choosing a career in Armenia, Nouneh Sarkissian knew she wanted to make a difference. Sarkissian began her search for a meaningful career as a student at Yerevan State University in the early 1980s, when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union. Her interests took her from archeology to academia before realizing that her desire for adventure coupled with her natural talent for writing made her especially suitable for journalism. It would be a challenge, though. Her university didn’t even have a journalism school.

Today, these “messengers” work to gather and distribute news and information, monitoring, analyzing and often critiquing those in positions of authority. Protecting journalists and media practitioners against violence from those who may want to censor them is a core tenet of freedom of expression.