A photojournalist runs with a camera in his hands.

Washington — If journalists are persecuted, imprisoned or killed, society as a whole is the victim, say media and democracy advocates speaking in advance of World Press Freedom Day.

The United Nations highlighted the importance of a free media by establishing World Press Freedom Day in 1993, setting aside May 3 each year to remember slain and imprisoned journalists. This year’s theme is the safety of journalists.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Karen Stewart told America.gov that “by attacking journalists you are attacking a very basic fundamental of a free society,” the right of citizens to have free and open access to information.

“And without those freedoms you cannot have democracy,” the former ambassador to Belarus said April 27. In Belarus, “the embassy worked very hard to support journalists in very trying, repressive circumstances with programs like legal assistance training and funding of external radio operations.”

An independent media brings transparency and accountability to government — indispensable elements for a healthy economy as well as democracy, Stewart said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that in 2008 some 41 journalists were killed while doing their jobs and 125 were imprisoned. A new trend, according to the organization, is “the arrest of Internet journalists — bloggers, Web-based reporters and online editors [who] now account for more than one-third of the journalists jailed around the globe.”

Don Podesta, consulting manager and editor for the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), a part of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), also highlighted the importance of journalistic freedom.

Podesta, a former Washington Post reporter and foreign correspondent in South America, said Americans “have to promote free and independent media around the world, and that means protecting journalists, because you can’t have robust democracies without them — it’s that simple.”

CIMA’s main goal, Podesta said, is “to help journalists in the developing world by providing information, networks and research on the important role of media in sustaining democracies around the world.”

A 2008 report compiled by CIMA/NED called “Empowering Independent Media” states that in many political settings, “violence against journalists is prevalent.”

Some of the reasons for this include:

• Media laws are often weak and selectively enforced.

• Governments control and censor the media.

• Cooperation for access to information is lacking.

• Too few lawyers are willing to defend or protect journalists.

Carl Gershman, president of the NED, said, “If journalists are being harassed and even killed with impunity, then nothing we [nongovernmental organizations] do to improve their professionalism will be enough to ensure a free press.”

The danger for the press, especially investigative reporters, is “greater today than ever, especially in Somalia, Iraq and Russia,” Gershman said. “It is a difficult time with a lot of repression from governments fighting what they see as threats from an independent media.”

As a show of bipartisan support for international press freedom, U.S. lawmakers set up the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press in May 2006. The aim of the caucus is to advance press freedom worldwide by combating censorship and the persecution of journalists. The caucus is co-chaired by Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana), Senator Chris Dodd (Democrat of Connecticut), Representative Adam Schiff (Democrat of California) and Representative Mike Pence (Republican of Indiana).

In a press release, Dodd said, “Journalists and representatives of the press are on the front lines of freedom of information. When they are harmed or intimidated, the victim is not only them but democracy.”

Schiff said, “Where there is no freedom of the press, there is no freedom.” He added, “Journalists should not have to work in fear of governments throwing them in jail or harming them or their families simply for doing their job.”

See also “Journalism Under Siege” and “Handbook of Independent Journalism.”