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Leading journalists and press freedom advocates from around the world are examining ways to overcome the growing challenges facing the media during a two-day online conference co-hosted by the United Nations’ cultural and educational agency, UNESCO. and the Netherlands.
The 2020 World Press Freedom Conference, which began on Wednesday, features interactive panels and discussions covering topics such as the investigation of journalist murders, online violence against women journalists, and the media response to the COVID pandemic. 19.
“Not only do journalists transmit vital information during the pandemic, they also help us distinguish all kinds of truth from falsehood, which is fundamental to our social contract,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General.
“However, journalists continue to be attacked, harassed and attacked. In recent years, the threats against them have grown because they disturb, because they tell the truth. Or, to put it simply, because they do their job. ”
There is no ‘press’ without ‘freedom’
Between 2010 and 2019, about 900 journalists were killed in the line of duty, according to UNESCO data; crimes that mostly go unpunished. Women journalists have faced harassment, including physical or sexual threats, either online or in real life, while the pandemic has added to the already precarious financial situation of the media industry.
There can be no “press” without “freedom”, emphasized the Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, acknowledging how he has the means to keep you informed about what is happening at home and in the world.
Mr Blok said he had spoken with young journalists from Ethiopia and Libya on Thursday “and I could really tell them from the bottom of my heart: we need them. We need them to know what is happening in their country and to do what we have to do as ministers ”.
Corrosion and contagion
During the first panel, Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief for the New York Times, spoke of the “tough four years” that the US media had to endure, covering the Trump administration.
“He has called us ‘the enemy of the people’, he has used the term ‘fake news’, which has been repeated by 50 presidents, prime ministers and other government officials around the world,” he said.
Although these attacks have had what Ms. Bumiller described as “a corrosive effect” on the media in the United States, The Times reported that nonetheless, it has seen record levels of readership and digital subscriptions.
However, Sudan-born journalist Nima El Badir, CNN’s senior international correspondent in London, was wary that the “contagion” of populism is still spreading around the world.
“I’m worried that we’re taking a breath and exhaling a little too soon,” he said. “The feeling we have is that there is a contagion; that the lessons of populist leadership, of the populist wave, whether in the United States, the United Kingdom or Europe, have been learned very well by leaders around the world.
Democracy in danger
Ms El Badir pointed to the situation in Ethiopia, where a communications cut-off has been imposed in the north since the start of the Tigray crisis a month ago.
“How can President Trump, how can Prime Minister Johnson, how can any of the many leaders within the European Union, talk about lack of access when they themselves would love nothing but the exact same thing? If they could shut us down, they would, ”he said.
For Maria Ressa, editor-in-chief of the Philippine online news website Rappler, the rise of populism and attacks on journalists have been made possible by technology.
Ms. Ressa, who has been arrested nine times, believes that people should be aware of their news sources. Social media penetration in the Philippines is high, he said, describing it as “Facebook country.”
“Well, our dystopian present has already hit many democracies around the world and we have to do something about it,” he warned.
“And that’s to make sure the news gets to him; that platforms, social media platforms, due to their business model, do not insidiously manipulate us to overthrow democracy.
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