Free Press Unlimited supports journalism under pressure
Published on 28 September 2026 at 03:18 GMT
By Editorial Team SDG16
Free Press Unlimited supports journalists and media organisations facing threats, legal restrictions and financial uncertainty. Based in Amsterdam, the international press freedom organisation combines emergency assistance with support to keep newsrooms operating and connected to their audiences.
The organisation describes its mission as making independent news available to everyone, particularly in countries with limited press freedom. Its published approach includes training, advice, emergency assistance and organisational development. It places local media professionals at the centre of that work, arguing that their proximity to audiences helps them provide information relevant to people’s lives.
The organisation describes access to independent information as the purpose linking its programmes. Its published activities address both individual journalists’ safety and the ability of media organisations to continue operating. Counts of grants, equipment deliveries or training participants describe assistance provided; by themselves, they do not measure how long recipients can sustain their reporting.
Legal pressure widens the problem
The 2026 World Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) classified 52.2 per cent of the 180 countries and territories assessed as having a difficult or very serious press freedom situation. Its legal indicator deteriorated in 110 of them between 2025 and 2026, the sharpest decline among its five indicators.
RSF links the deterioration to restrictions including the misuse of national security legislation and legal proceedings against journalists. This places the discussion beyond physical danger alone. A newsroom can face constraints through courts and regulation even when its staff are able to enter an office and use their equipment.
The index assesses press freedom conditions in countries and territories. RSF notes substantial changes to its methodology in 2013 and 2022 and says it recalibrated earlier scores and thresholds for historical comparisons. Its 2026 classification and annual indicator changes therefore require a different reading from comparisons spanning several decades.
Protection before and after a crisis
Free Press Unlimited organises its safety work around prevention, protection and prosecution. Its published programme includes security advice, protective equipment and digital safety training. Its Totem platform offers free online courses, while the Reporters Respond emergency fund provides assistance to journalists facing threats, harassment or displacement.
Free Press Unlimited reports that more than 1,100 media professionals received assistance through Reporters Respond in 2025. That activity total alone does not show how many recipients resumed reporting or how long they remained safe.
Its safety programme also includes legal assistance, temporary relocation and psychosocial support. The organisation says its accountability work involves documenting violations, investigating cases and supporting legal follow-up. These activities address both immediate threats and accountability for crimes against journalists.
Keeping newsrooms connected to audiences
In its work with media in conflict and repressive environments, Free Press Unlimited describes support for organisational continuity, internal governance and financial viability. It also supports exiled outlets with the legal, fiscal and administrative systems of host countries, alongside their connection to audiences at home.
Exile changes the operating setting without necessarily resolving a newsroom’s financial problems. The organisation identifies higher costs and fragile income among the difficulties faced by displaced media. Physical distance from a threat can therefore coexist with uncertainty about whether an outlet can keep publishing.
Free Press Unlimited cites Radio Dabanga, a Sudanese outlet founded in 2008, as an example of its support for media in exile. It says the outlet established operations in Amsterdam with its assistance and reaches audiences in Sudan through shortwave radio, satellite television and online platforms.
Access to information as a development measure
The connection to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) is explicit in the international framework. Target 16.10 concerns public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms. The United Nations indicators track both serious violations against journalists and other specified groups, and the adoption and implementation of guarantees for access to information.
The indicators measure verified violations and national guarantees for access to information. Neither directly measures the effect of a particular media assistance programme. Assessing that effect would require separate evidence on recipients’ safety, continued reporting and audience access.
Free Press Unlimited presents individual protection and support for media organisations as connected parts of its work. Its programme descriptions document the assistance offered, while the reported 2025 total gives a measure of its emergency fund’s reach. That total alone does not establish lasting improvements in safety or access to news.
Written by a human author, edited with AI assistance.
Further information:
Free Press Unlimited, Who we are. Explains the organisation’s mission, local partnership approach and forms of support.
Reporters Without Borders, 2026 World Press Freedom Index analysis. Supports the current classifications, legal indicator findings and methodological qualifications.
Free Press Unlimited, Safety of journalists. Describes protection programmes and the organisation’s reported 2025 assistance figure.
Free Press Unlimited, Media in conflict areas. Explains support for exiled newsrooms and the Radio Dabanga example.
United Nations Statistics Division, SDG indicator metadata. Defines target 16.10 and its measures of violations and information access guarantees.
.
