Overview

• Media explainers trace the commemoration to the Organization of International Journalists, with reports split on whether the designation was made in 1950 or at the IV Congress in Bucharest in 1958.
• Fučík wrote Reportaje al pie de la horca while imprisoned by the Gestapo in 1942, smuggling out pages with help from a guard and leaving a testimony later published by his wife after liberation.
• Outlets emphasize the day’s purpose of defending press freedom and honoring reporters who face attacks, imprisonment and killings for their work.
• Coverage notes that many countries keep separate national observances—such as Argentina on June 7 and Mexico on January 4—so September 8 functions as an international tribute.
• In current context, watchdogs report Mexico remains one of the deadliest places for the press, documenting hundreds of attacks in 2023 and at least nine journalists killed by mid‑2025, alongside a rise in judicial harassment cases this year.