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World Press Freedom Day, which we mark tomorrow, reminds us that Western democracy is a small oasis in a world of brutal coercion that paradoxically fears nothing as much as free speech and thought.

Napoleon said he preferred to face "a thousand bayonets" than hostile newspapers. So he shut them down. Two centuries later, the world's autocrats have not changed their tactics.

In Zimbabwe, where it is a crime to practise journalism without a government licence, Robert Mugabe's secret police have forced the country's last independent newspaper out of business. Rape, torture, and persecution of opponents continue under cover of media darkness.

The Russian tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, was forced to apologize and then close its doors after angering departing Russian President Vladimir Putin with a story about his rumoured engagement to a ravishing Olympic gymnast less than half his age. Said deputy editor Igor Dudinsky: "We proved that Russia is not a democracy." Autocrats have feelings, too, apparently.

It is not pique but lust for power, however, that drives the repression of media in Russia, where scores of newspapers have been shuttered, and school children were threatened with bad grades if their parents didn't vote for Mr. Putin's ruling party in recent elections.

What is unique about Russia and Zimbabwe is that only a short time ago, people dared to dream. Similar hopes for China post-Mao were all but crushed by the tanks in Tiananmen Square.

Yet, it is tempting to speculate that China's dizzying economic growth and desire to assert itself as one of the world's leading powers will inevitably spur democratic change. Indeed, in preparation for the thousands of reporters expected for the Olympic Games, China temporarily relaxed rules on foreign reporters, allowing them to travel freely and talk to anyone.

But as the clampdown on coverage of disturbances in Tibet in March clearly showed, such freedoms are conditional, and the authorities will not hesitate to yank the leash when threatened.

Canadian journalists, meanwhile, confront the hazards of repression and war when they go abroad to bring those stories to us. Patrice Roy, Ottawa bureau chief for the CBC's French-language network, was travelling with his cameraman, Charles Dubois, near Kandahar last August when their light armoured vehicle hit a land mine. Two Canadian soldiers and their Afghan interpreter died. Mr. Roy was shaken; Mr. Dubois lost part of his leg. In an interview, Mr. Roy said he asked himself afterward whether the risk was worth it, and couldn't answer the question.

But humanity would be poorer were it not for the courage of people such as Mr. Roy and Mr. Dubois. Ninety-five journalists were killed on the job last year, according to the World Association of Newspapers. Among them, Ali Iman Sharmarke, a brave Canadian who returned to his native Somalia to run an independent radio station, assassinated as he returned from the funeral of a murdered co-worker. After Iraq, Somalia is the most lethal place in the world for journalists.

Against this backdrop, the challenges to press freedom in Canada pale. But it would be dangerous to be complacent.

We have a government in Ottawa that has been criticized for restricting access to information, and for using aggressively manipulative tactics to control media "spin." We have a national police force with a disturbing inability to recognize the public's right to know, as evinced by the RCMP's botched efforts to censor reports on taser use, alleging disclosure would violate the privacy rights of victims. Such solicitude, if genuine, is surely ironic.

Nevertheless, Canadians can usually rely on an independent judiciary to uphold our democratic rights. One upcoming case in the Supreme Court of Canada will test whether the public has a constitutional right to government information. Another case will test the principle of "responsible journalism in the public interest," and whether reporters and editors should be vulnerable to libel charges when every possible means of verifying a story has been exhausted.

Yet, at the same time, two reporters for the Montreal daily, La Presse, face jail time after a judge ordered them to reveal the confidential source of information in a story about an alleged al-Qaeda suspect. Joël-Denis Bellavance and Gilles Toupin are among the nominees for Canada's annual World Press Freedom prize, to be awarded in Ottawa today, for standing up for a vital principle: the freedom of media to gather information.

Our democracy is an anomaly in a planet hostile to basic freedoms. If we don't celebrate them, who will?

Anne Kothawala is President and CEO of the Canadian Newspaper Association