Threats to journalistic independence are appearing at increasing rates worldwide, including in established democracies — a situation which, frankly, deserves more attention than it often receives.

These threats have now crossed a new threshold here in the United States. As Maria Ressa, a Center for News, Technology & Innovation board member, reminded us in her remarks at the International Center for Journalists Awards dinner recently, it only took former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte “roughly six months to crumble our institutions,” including freedom of the press.

The U.S. isn’t immune to this risk and the loss of protections for independent journalism we’ve guarded for so long. Perhaps this has been a very needed wakeup call.

Just as so many other parts of society are evolving alongside technological change, so too is journalism, and in dramatic ways. Journalism absolutely still requires what is at the heart of dedicated reporting, what CNTI advisor Rana Sabbagh called in her ICFJ award speech “the refusal to give up, the refusal to crouch in fear.” But it also requires much more.

Journalism today is a process. One that requires the collaboration of journalists, technology companies, researchers, policymakers, civil society and the public.

It requires (1) journalists to do critical reporting, (2) technology that enables information gathering, distribution and access, (3) research to shed light on current realities and ways to enhance the digital media landscape, (4) a public that finds journalism relevant, accessible, and worth their involvement, and (5) policies that support and protect all of the above. It takes all of these parts of society — and all of us — for journalism to function in the critical ways societies need. Too often discussions forget, or ignore, the full picture.

Let’s have 2025 be the year we double down on journalistic independence and all that it takes to safeguard journalism’s critical role in society.