UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance of news reporting and protection of freedom of expression in a video message for a grassroots campaign, the ‘Day Without News.’ “A day without news may seem unthinkable in this connected and globalised world. Yet every day, the voices of the news are being silenced,” the Secretary-General said. A journalist is killed every week, and 9 out of 10 of those cases go unpunished, Ban noted. The head of the UN agency mandated to promote and protect freedom of expression and press freedom, Irina Bokova, condemned a record 121 killings of journalists, media workers and citizen reporters last year. As part of an effort to combat this violence, the Paris-based Unesco launched the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. The goal, Ban said, is simple: “to ensure that every journalist can do her or his job safely.” Every year on May 3, the UN marks World Press Freedom Day - an opportunity to speak out for the safety of journalists, and for combating impunity, in the real and digital worlds.

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