New York-based CPJ has accused Israel of targeting journalists, which the Israeli government has denied.
About half of the world's population is set to vote in national elections in 2024, which has press freedom experts concerned about the safety of reporters and potentially harmful effects for press freedom.
"This year is going to be really indicative not just of the future of a free press, but the future of democracy, because how we treat our media in the run-up to these elections is a litmus test for how the other freedoms that we enjoy, and the other democratic rights we enjoy, are likely to be treated afterwards," Ginsberg said.
Discussions about press freedom tend to center on the negative, but Clayton Weimers, the head of the U.S. office of Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said it's also important to recognize governments that are defending press freedom.
"World Press Freedom Day should be a celebration of the values of the free press," Weimers said.
RSF on Friday released its annual press freedom index, which ranks 180 countries and territories in terms of media freedom. Norway and Denmark topped the list this year.
"There's no freedom without press freedom," Weimers said. "It's the freedom on which all the others are based."