The coronavirus crisis is increasing pressure on press freedom, particularly in certain countries, according to the 2020 Reporters Without Borders report.
"We are entering a decisive decade for journalism. The coronavirus crisis is part of the reason." Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), made these remarks to accompany the publication of a new report on press freedom. The document contains the updated global ranking of the countries that perform best in terms of the right to inform and to be informed: the World Press Freedom Index 2020. It was presented just ahead of World Press Freedom Day, which is being celebrated today, 3 May, around the world.
The 2020 edition of the report suggests that the next ten years will be crucial for press freedom, owing to a series of converging crises. A geopolitical crisis, driven by the aggressiveness of authoritarian regimes towards journalists. A technological crisis, whereby the absence of adequate regulation in the digital communications age has created an information free-for-all. Propaganda, advertising and journalism are, in fact, in direct competition with one another. And finally an economic crisis that has caused the impoverishment of quality journalism.
Contributing factors to a situation that has been compounded by the global health emergency. Indeed, "certain aspects of the pandemic threaten people's right to access reliable information. This represents an aggravating factor," Deloire added.
Too many countries have, in fact, chosen to censor information about the coronavirus. This is the case, RSF specifies, of China (ranked 177th out of 180) and Iran (173rd), which have preferred to "manage" information about their main epidemic outbreaks. Similarly, in Iraq (162nd) the authorities revoked the licence of the news agency Reuters for three months. Its offence was publishing an article that questioned the accuracy of the official figures on infections.
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The health emergency has given authoritarian governments the opportunity to implement what RSF calls the "shock doctrine". The aim is to exploit citizens' disorientation in order to impose measures that would be impossible to enact in normal times — such as those designed to prevent journalists from carrying out their role as the "fourth estate". It is precisely to protect the work of reporters, all the more so given the volume of information needed to make sense of the present moment, that the deputy director-general for Communication and Information at Unesco, Moez Chakchouk, stressed the importance of guaranteeing their safety during the pandemic. "It is up to states," the official explained, "to ensure that journalists are in a position to report on the health crisis and its social implications without risk, in accordance with international standards on freedom of expression."
Turning to the best performers, Norway tops the index for the fourth consecutive year, while Finland is in second place. Denmark follows in third. The bottom of the ranking has also seen few changes. North Korea has taken last place from Turkmenistan, while Eritrea remains the worst-ranked country in Africa. The World Press Freedom Index also reports that the level of media freedom worldwide improved by 0.9 per cent over the past year. However, it has deteriorated by 12 per cent since 2013, partly owing to situations such as that in Mexico (143rd), where more than 140 journalists have been killed since 2000.
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A silencing made first of threats and then, for those who did not stop pursuing the truth, of death. Cynthia Rodriguez now lives in exile in Italy but continues to report on her home country, Mexico, which is steadily falling in the RSF ranking. "The things that happen to journalists happen because words like silence and omertà have come to seem increasingly normal to us. Once those were accepted, violence and corruption became natural too."
More broadly, RSF underlines that one in two people in the world has no access to free information. Despite the fact that the latter "guarantees the existence of all other freedoms," Deloire observes. Europe remains the continent where it is easiest to practise journalism. Yet even the Old Continent has its shadows: "In Malta (81st), which has become a strategic hub for the transnational trafficking of mafias, Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed for exposing a money-laundering system. In Slovakia (despite its 33rd place ranking), Ján Kuciak was murdered for his investigations that brought to light both the infiltration of the 'ndrangheta and criminal interests linked to European agricultural funds," recalls Lorenzo Frigerio, coordinator of Libera Informazione.
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These are crimes symptomatic of an underlying problem: the fact that Europe is witnessing a weakening of journalism, the product of an anti-media rhetoric championed by certain political forces. As in the case of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who frequently exploits the media for political ends, including during the coronavirus pandemic. A pattern of behaviour entirely similar to that of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in Latin America, who continues to denigrate the press and stoke hatred towards journalists, accusing them, since the start of the pandemic, of "hysteria".
As for Italy, the country moves from 43rd to 41st place. In its analysis, Reporters Without Borders highlights the more than 20 journalists forced to live under police protection due to threats they have received. Furthermore, in November 2019, in Campania, journalist Mario De Michele narrowly escaped being killed in an attack of Camorra origin following an investigation he was conducting. And "there have also been cases of physical and verbal violence against journalists by groups belonging to the neo-fascist wing," RSF notes.
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The level of violence against journalists in Italy has grown particularly in Rome and in the south of the country. However, Italian politicians "are less aggressive than in the past towards media organisations," the analysis concludes. It does, however, mention the attacks on members of the press coming from government figures within the Five Star Movement.
