Media landscape marked by ‘climate of fear’
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By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, April
19, 2019 (IPS) — Journalists
around the world are increasingly
seeing threats of violence,
detention, and even death simply
for doing their job, a new
press index found.
In the 2019 World Press
Freedom Index, Reporters
Without Borders (RSF) has
found a worrisome decline in
media freedoms as toxic antipress
rhetoric have devolved
into violence, triggering a climate
of fear.
“The scene this year is fear.
And the state of journalism
and press freedom around the
world is declining… but also in
the traditional press freedom
allies — countries in Europe
and here in the United States,”
said RSF’s Executive Director,
Sabine Dolan during the
launch of the index.
RSF Secretary-General
Christophe Deloire echoed
similar sentiments about the
dangers of declining press freedom,
stating: “If the political
debate slides surreptitiously or
openly towards a civil war-style
atmosphere, in which journalists
are treated as scapegoats,
then democracy is in great
danger…Halting this cycle of
fear and intimidation is a matter
of the utmost urgency for
all people of good will who
value the freedoms acquired in
the course of history.”
Of 180 countries evaluated
in RSF’s index, only 24 percent
were classified as “good” or
“fairly good” compared to 26
percent in 2018.
The Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region continues
to be the most dangerous
area for journalists as they face
violence due to ongoing conflicts
while also being deliberately
targeted, imprisoned, and
killed.
For example, Emirati blogger
Ahmed Mansoor was sentenced
to 10 years in prison
after criticising the United
Arab Emirates’ (UAE) government
on social media.
He was accused of “publishing
false information, rumours
and lies” which would “damage
the UAE’s social harmony and
unity.”
The persecution of MENA’s
journalists has even extended
past its own borders as seen
through the brutal murder of
Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi
Consulate in Turkey.
Such a chilling level of violence
has provoked fear among
the region’s journalists, causing
many to censor themselves.
But of all the world’s regions,
it is the Americas that has seen
the largest dip in its press freedom
score.
Nicaragua for instance fell
24 places to 114th, making it
one of the steepest declines
worldwide — and with good
reason.
What started as protests
against controversial social
security reforms has turned
into one of the biggest crackdowns
on dissent and media in
the Central American nation.
Nicaraguans covering demonstrations
have been treated
as protestors or members of
the opposition and have been
subject to harassment, arbitrary
arrest, and death threats.
Some have been charged
with terrorism including
Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda
Ubau, journalists for the news
agency 100% Noticias.
Further north, the United
States’ media climate is now
classified as “problematic” as a
result of an increasingly toxic
anti-media rhetoric.
Over the last year, media
organisations across the country
received bomb threats and
suspicious packages including
CNN, forcing evacuations.
In June 2018, after expressing
his hatred for the Capital
Gazette newspaper on social
media, Jarrod Ramos walked
into the newsroom and killed
four journalists and a staff
member.
Most recently, Coast Guard
lieutenant Christopher Paul
Hasson was arrested for planning
a terrorist attack targeting
journalists and politicians.
Such anti-media sentiment
is partially fuelled by U.S. President
Donald Trump who has
The state of journalism and press freedom around the world
is declining according to a new press index by Reporters
Without Borders (RSF). Inter Press Service / Miriam Gathigah
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