I should really preface my response here with the fact that I am not a lawyer, so you can take my legal analysis for what it's worth.
What I probably should have said, instead of the legal framework getting better, is that the legal framework has been discussed and it has been codified in many ways, but it's not enforceable without a mechanism in place to do the enforcing.
Setting up a special envoy for the protection of journalists takes the next step, from codification of the framework to actual enforcement. It would create a nexus where the international community can converge in order to start monitoring the situation, making recommendations working with organizations like UNESCO and the Human Rights Council, and following up with repercussions for bad actors on the international stage.
However, until we have that mechanism, this is just a framework that exists largely theoretically.