World News Day: 1,000-plus newsrooms in 100-plus countries unite to defend trusted journalism

TORONTO, Sept. 17, 2026 /CNW/ - On 28 September, more than 1,000 news organizations and support agencies from more than 100 countries will mark World News Day, a global campaign to promote the value of journalism.

This year, news organizations are asked to show what goes into their journalism so that the public can know the facts, understand what matters and choose trusted journalism.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) founded World News Day in 2018 with 17 participating organizations. With the addition of WAN-IFRA as a partner a year later, the campaign went global and last year, it reached more than 1,000 publishers across 108 countries and 17 languages. This year's campaign runs from 25 September to 1 October with 28 September as the focal day, coinciding with the UN International Day for Universal Access to Information.

"News organizations are very good at telling other people's stories. But we have not always been equally good at telling our own," says Stig Ørskov, CEO of the World Association of News Publishers, in urging media outlets to join World News Day 2026.

Adds CJF President and Executive Director Natalie Turvey: "When trust in journalism erodes, so does the public's ability to make sense of the world. World News Day is a chance for more than 1,000 newsrooms to make the case together for fact-based reporting at a time when that case has never been more important." 

Newsroom closures and shrinking budgets have weakened journalism worldwide, while AI-generated content and disinformation increasingly compete with real reporting for public attention. No single newsroom can address these challenges alone. World News Day brings newsrooms together to make one collective case, and to do something journalism rarely does: explain its own process. For one week, participating outlets are invited to show readers the work behind what they publish, giving the public something concrete whereby to judge trust.

"A society that loses its grip on facts loses its grip on itself," says Branko Brkic, founder of Project Kontinuum, a global network to secure the news media's future and co-organizer of World News Day. "A society that fights for truth can still find its way back.

"Alone, any one of us can be dismissed. Together, in dozens of languages and more than 100 countries, we're harder to ignore. That's the whole point of doing this on the same day. It is not a fundraiser. It is a rallying point."

World News Day is organized jointly by the World Editors Forum, the Canadian Journalism Foundation and Project Kontinuum.

Newsrooms can register at https://wan-ifra.my.salesforce-sites.com/onlineregistration?regid=a1PW7000004FkLBMA. From 1 September, all who register gain access to campaign materials, including a collection of op-eds from leading journalists, translated campaign assets in 20+ languages, social media graphics and copy for the campaign week, print and digital ads, and cartoons and video, all built around the campaign message:

"Know the facts. Understand what matters. Choose trusted journalism. Because it's your right to know." 

Members of the public are invited to follow the campaign at [worldnewsday.org] and on social media using #WorldNewsDay #WND26 #ChooseTrustedJournalism #YourRightToKnow.

About World News Day
World News Day is a global campaign built around fact-based journalism. It is organized jointly by WAN-IFRA's World Editors Forum, the Canadian Journalism Foundation and Project Kontinuum.

SOURCE The Canadian Journalism Foundation