May 3 marks the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, declared by the United Nations (U.N.) as a day dedicated to journalists around the globe who work tirelessly to report the news and face grave obstacles and dangers in order to do it. As we celebrate the intrepid journalists who continue to inform their communities in the face of physical threats, government obstruction, and criminal prosecution, pausing to reflect on the circumstances journalists here in Georgia face reveals that press freedom is not just at risk in the Global South, but the American South too.

On World Press Freedom Day, we remember the journalists who have lost their lives in the pursuit of reporting the truth. In 2023, 75% of journalists killed around the world were Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza following Oct. 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day is honoring the importance of journalism in the context of the world’s triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and air pollution. Dis- and misinformation about environmental issues can lead to a lack of public support for climate action. Journalists play a crucial role in pushing climate action forward by bridging the information gap and shedding light on environmental crimes, exposing corruption and powerful interests, and, the U.N. writes, “sometimes paying the ultimate price for doing their job.”

As a pro bono media lawyer working to support local journalism in Georgia, I hear from journalists across the state—from metro Atlanta to Georgia’s most rural corners—seeking legal assistance. I have heard from journalists who have been arrested, tear gassed, threatened with arrest, sued by the subjects of their reporting, threatened by subjects with a restraining order, had their cameras confiscated, and kicked out of public meetings.

The journalists who contact me do not work for large media corporations. They come from small newsrooms with only a handful of reporters or they are operating solo, and they focus on hyperlocal news coverage. In some of Georgia’s more rural counties, a single independent journalist might be the only voice for accountability of public officials, which can sometimes lead to them being targeted.

Despite these obstacles, local journalists in Georgia do critical work in reporting on a range of topics, including environmental issues. There’s Star News’s reporting on a Carrollton nursing and rehabilitation facility leaking up to 13,000 gallons a day of raw sewage into Buck Creek, which flows into the 97-mile-long Little Tallapoosa River. There’s the Georgia Recorder’s reporting about the construction of a 582-acre demonstration mine just three miles from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. But no environmental story in Georgia has captured the attention of as many journalists as the heavily protested construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as Cop City, on 381 acres of land in the Weelaunee Forest in DeKalb County.

The journalists who know the Cop City issue best, who have attended nearly every city council meeting on the matter, who are not conflicted by financial ties to Cop City, and who can best explain how the facility will impact local communities are the local reporters. Yet, as a study published by the International Press Institute (IPI) in February observes, while local journalists are oftentimes best situated to report on their own communities, they are simultaneously the most exposed because they do not have the legal or financial backing of a large organization to defend them. And unlike national or international journalists, they may not have the ability to leave the region once the story is published.

The IPI study, titled “Climate and Environmental Journalism Under Fire,” reported that “[a]s a result of their crucial and sensitive work, journalists who cover environmental and climate stories face a range of serious threats and attacks,” including “physical attacks; arrest and detention; legal harassment; online harassment and hate campaigns; restrictions on freedom of movement; and challenges accessing information.” These types of hazards are allowed to proliferate with impunity, according to IPI, because “[e]nvironmental destruction often takes place in remote locations that are dangerous to access and where the rule of law is weak or nonexistent.”

Reporters Without Borders has likened the dangers of being an environmental journalist to those of being a war correspondent. “The only difference … is that war correspondents are always prepared—this is why they are in less danger than other reporters,” according to Egyptian journalist Abeer Saady. On Earth Day last week, Reporters Without Borders called upon governments to protect environmental journalists, noting that Asia and Latin America are the most dangerous regions for environmental journalists. The latest reporter to be murdered for covering an environmental story was Philippine radio journalist Cresenciano Bunduquin. While physical attacks against the press might be less common in the U.S. than in other parts of the world, they have certainly happened in recent years, as seen in the 2022 murder of Jeff German of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the 2018 shooting in Maryland of the Capital Gazette newsroom.

In addition to threats and harassment, the difficulty of obtaining information also makes journalism challenging. Withholding of public records is a press freedom issue. “Journalists covering environmental and climate stories often face restrictions or extensive challenges in accessing data that is key to accurate, fact-based coverage of environmental topics,” IPI writes. 

Increasing privatization of government—particularly with respect to projects that impact the environment—means that fewer records are held by public agencies, but even when they are, private entities often exert their influence to prevent agencies from disclosing records. Obstruction can also manifest in the form of agencies charging reporters exorbitant fees for public records, as I often see in Georgia, where the Open Records Act does not provide for a fee waiver. And all too often, agencies deny public records requests on improper legal grounds or fail to respond to requests at all.

Supporting local news outlets that do environmental journalism is important because larger media outlets are often conflicted out due to partnering with companies involved in environmentally damaging businesses or receiving financial support from them, as IPI explains. This has borne out here in Georgia too. Last December, the publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the largest distribution newspaper in the state, published an op-ed in the AJC voicing his support for Cop City. At the bottom of the op-ed is a disclosure that reads, “The James M. Cox Foundation, the charitable arm of Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has contributed to the training center fundraising campaign.” 

As the home of CNN and a growing media landscape, Georgia might seem like a safe place for local journalists, but while they are often championed, they are rarely rewarded. On this World Press Freedom Day, Georgians must remember that attacks on press freedom do not only happen in other parts of the world. Defending press freedom requires vigilance and a continuous commitment to fighting for the rights of journalists in the Peach State and beyond.