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WORRYING RETURN IN PRESS FREEDOMAROUND THE WORLD |
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Norway remains at the top of this 22nd press freedom ranking, while Eritrea comes in last position, 180th, after North Korea the previous two years. France moves from 24th to 21st place by a mechanical effect, while the country's indicators "stagnate", notes Anne Bocandé, editorial director of the NGO for the defense of journalists. Overall, in three-quarters of nations, the conditions for practicing journalism are considered unfavorable. According to the NGO, the international community visibly lacks political will to guarantee the safety of journalists in Gaza, where more than 100 Palestinian journalists have lost their lives, including at least 22 while carrying out their duties, under fire from the Israeli army. . Journalists who work on the environment are among the most threatened in the world. 70% of them have suffered pressure or attacks in 129 countries, according to a report released by UNESCO, particularly when they denounce illegal activities such as poaching or environmental pollution. More precisely, the RSF report for the year 2024 highlights a trend towards less protection of journalism by governments, or even active engagement in the propagation of disinformation. RSF highlights a “worrying deterioration in support and respect for media autonomy”, especially as “the biggest electoral year in world history” approaches, with almost half of the world's population involved in at least one election, from India to the United States, including the European elections. This situation suggests new “very strong pressures” on the media. The NGO Civil Liberties Union for Europe According to the latest report from the NGO Civil Liberties Union for Europe, based in Germany, press freedom is “dangerously close to the breaking point” in several countries of the European Union. And France is not really a model. “Freedom of the press is in constant decline (…), in many countries due to willful nuisance or negligence by the governments in place,” points out the organization. This decline “goes hand in hand with the decline of the rule of law. There is a close correlation between the two.”The deterioration of the situation results in direct threats to journalists and their work. “Intimidation, surveillance and acts of violence” have been noted in several member states of the European Union. According to the NGO, in 2023, in France, Croatia, Germany and Italy, journalists have been the target of physical violence. In Romania and Sweden, attacks went unpunished “for lack of means or will” of the police, while police officers themselves directly attacked journalists physically in France and Bulgaria. Elsewhere in the world In Argentina (66th, -26 places), the new ultraliberal president Javier Milei announced in March the closure of the public press agency Télam, which he accuses of “propaganda”. Control of social networks and the internet is very extensive in Vietnam (174th) and China (172nd), a country which, in addition to imprisoning the largest number of journalists in the world, practices censorship and surveillance. In the regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia too, restrictions on the media have increased, strikingly mirroring the repressive tactics observed in Russia, RSF experts point out. They cite in particular Belarus (167th), Georgia (103rd), Kyrgyzstan (120th) and Azerbaijan (164th). In Russia, where Vladimir Putin was re-elected in March, the ranking is 162nd. In Africa the situation of press freedom is worrying. The juntas that took power in Niger (80th), Burkina (86th) and Mali (114th) “continue to tighten their grip on the media and hinder the work of journalists,” she believes. On the occasion of this special day, the city of Geneva will award this Friday the 2024 international press cartoon prize. A festival sponsored by the newspaper Le Temps, which pays tribute to one of its main inspirations, Donald Trump: “a gift for cartoonists,” according to the newspaper. |
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| Kelly Donaldson for DayNewsWorld | |
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