UN issues rallying cry for press freedom worldwide

Issued on: 03/05/2023 – 03:58

Speaking ahead of World Press Freedom day on Wednesday, Antonio Guterres issued a rallying cry for journalists and media worldwide.

“All our freedom depends on press freedom,” he said in a video message, calling it the “foundation of democracy and justice” and the “lifeblood of human rights.”

“But in every corner of the world, freedom of the press is under attack,” Guterres added, addressing a conference held at the UN headquarters in New York.

The UN secretary-general did not name jailed journalists or cast blame on countries, but other speakers highlighted individual cases, such as that of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges, which he rejects.

“The fight for press freedom, the fight for Evan’s release is a fight for everybody’s freedom,” Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour told the forum.

Other journalists hit upon the rising dangers of the profession.

“I’m coming from a country, Iran, where being a journalist is a crime… (and) can land you in jail, can get you killed, can get you tortured,” said Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist living in exile.

‘Threatened by disinformation’

According to Reporters Without Borders, 55 journalists and four media workers were killed in the line of duty in 2022.

“Truth is threatened by disinformation and hate speech, seeking to blur the lines between fact and fiction, between science and conspiracy,” Guterres said.

Journalists, he added, “are routinely harassed, intimidated, detained, and in prisons.”

Others voiced similar concerns, with the head of UNESCO, which is organizing an event at the United Nations in New York to mark the occasion on Wednesday, also speaking out.

Audrey Azoulay said the digital age was changing the entire information landscape — making “professional, free, independent journalism” more necessary than ever.

She said harassment and intimidation of journalists was unacceptable.

“We find ourselves at a new crossroads,” she said. “Our current path is leading us away from informed public debates… a path towards ever more polarization.”

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said it is not only direct repression that threatens journalists and freedom of information.

“The internet also unleashed the avalanche of misinformation, propaganda, punditry and clickbait that now overwhelms our information ecosystem…  accelerating the decline in societal trust,” he said.

“When the free press erodes, democratic erosion almost always follows.”

The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, said censorship has become more common.

“Sadly, censorship has become the default position of many governments in terms of controlling the knowledge of their societies,” she said.

(AFP)