Christophe Deloire, who negotiated to free imprisoned journalists around the world as the head of media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, has died at 53. Deloire had been battling sudden and aggressive cancer and died in Paris surrounded by loved ones, according to board members of Reporters Without Borders, also known by its French acronym RSF. Deloire was ''a tireless defender, on every continent, of the freedom, independence and pluralism of journalism, in a context of information chaos," RSF said in a statement.
"Journalism was his life's struggle, which he fought with unshakeable conviction,'' it added. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. Deloire travelled constantly, to Ukraine, Turkey, Africa and beyond to lobby governments and defend journalists behind bars or under threat.
Press freedom activists from many countries shared tributes to his work and mourned his passing. Deloire helped Russian broadcast journalist Marina Ovsiannikova flee Russia in a secret operation in 2022 after she came under fire for denouncing the war in Ukraine on live television. RSF also launched a program to provide protective equipment and training to Ukrainian journalists after Russia's invasion.
Publicly and behind the scenes, Deloire worked for the release of journalist Olivier Dubois, held by Islamic extremists in Mali for two years and freed in 2023, and for other jailed reporters. In his 12 years at the helm of RSF, he expanded the.
