In recent years, numerous reports and studies have emerged warning that democracies around the world are backsliding and autocracy is on the rise. A free media could be the key to reversing this trend, according to former Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.

The former Estonian leader said supporting free media is part of defending democracy. “Democracies indeed are always voluntary. You always have to go and vote and sustain our democracies, and every nation finally has the right to ruin their country as well. We've seen countries… give up on democratic path,” Kaljulaid said during a Global Stage panel on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last month.

But when democracies that have begun to crumble manage to turn back, it’s often because there is “some extent of the free media remaining in the country,” Kaljulaid said.

Watch the full conversation: How to protect elections in the age of AI

Watch more Global Stage coverage on the 2024 Munich Security Conference.