Case study: Brazil

Journalists are the eyes, voice and ears of a society. When you kill a journalist you contribute to creating a blind, mute and deaf community, unable to understand the environment around it.

The killing of journalists is the most severe aggression towards freedom of expression worldwide. Every person has the right to knowledge. Those who don’t agree with this are those who use fear as instruments of control and power.

Since the assassination of journalist Tim Lopes in 2002, society in Brazil has woken up from a dream that was not true.The dream was that journalists were free from any theats – that they could do their job without any risk and simply by presenting themselves as professionals – as individuals seeking truth for the benefit of people.

That was not true. The drug dealers that killed Tim Lopes, made the country learn that danger still existed in its most severe form. Fortunately, in that case impunity did not prosper and justice was done. The killers of the journalist were arrested, prosecuted and condemned.

Unfortunately Brazilian society still faces threats against journalists. Since Tim Lopes, dozens of other media professionals have been killed and others have been threatened in order to stop their work.

In the last three years, Brazil has been always been at the top of rankings of countries with the highest number of murdered journalists. And our country is not at war. Between January and April this year, according to the International News Safety Institute, four journalists have been killed in Brazil.

A strong society must take care of its individuals. And the good and free practice of journalism is definitely the greatest legacy we can provide for our children. The clock is ticking fast, but we still have time to work towards a better and fairer society.

To mark the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, 2013, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office aims to “shine a light” to highlight repression of the media and freedom of expression using personal testimonies and other accounts from around the world.

For more information on our activities on freedom of expression, and human rights more broadly, read our 2012 annual human rights report.

• The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), or its policies.