WATCH: Blinken warns UN about threats to press freedom

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned about the dangers to freedom of the press as world leaders convene at the United Nations this week.

Watch Blinken’s remarks in the player above.

The actual gathering of world leaders, known as the General Debate, begins Tuesday morning with the U.N. chief’s state of the world speech to the 77th session of the General Assembly which began on Sept. 12.

Blinken said freedom of the press is the “bedrock of democracy,” and he warned that it’s under threat “from censorship, from surveillance, from restrictive laws, from propaganda.”

“The work of the United Nations, the work of our of our own foreign policy and diplomacy would be dramatically undermined in a world where freedom of expression, freedom of the press, are under threat.”

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Nearly 150 presidents, prime ministers and monarchs are on the latest speakers list at the U.N., a very high number reflecting the importance of the meeting not only for presenting every country’s view of the world but for private one-on-one and group meetings where diplomats say a lot of the world’s business is carried out.

“We have a real stake in upholding these principles and making them real, defending them against those who seek to dilute them, diminish them, or eliminate them, Blinken said.”Mostly, I’m anxious to hear from all of our colleagues who have in various ways shown extraordinary courage in upholding these principles around the world,” Blinken said.