Headline Diplomat eJournal – Issue 1, Series 2
The perilous lenses of COVID-19: The sociopolitical impact
Charles Thomas, Content Writer, Headline Diplomat eJournal, LUDCI.eu
Freedom of the press is a great asset. If there is anything history has taught humans, it is about the major role played by the press during times of war, global health disasters, and other crises. However, as reported by the non-profit organization, Reporters Without Borders, given that countries are still struggling to put an end to the scourge of the pandemic, while many others are still reeling from its aftermath, its effect on press freedom may remain uncorrected in the next decade to come.
The RSF’s report on global press freedom during the COVID-19 era
According to RSF, the coronavirus pandemic will impact on the future of journalism and will negatively affect the right to free, independent, and plural information. This is because, hostility to the press is increasing around the globe, and many governments are using it for blatant restrictions, according to the NY Times.
The Reporters without Borders (RSF) warns in the annual report on freedom of the press that there are effects derived from the global health emergency. It highlights that the “COVID-19 pandemic amplifies the multiple crises that threaten the right to free information.” It also presents a “clear correlation” between the repression of press freedom registered during the Coronavirus crisis and the place of countries in the World Press Freedom Index.
“The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the negative factors threatening the right to reliable information and is itself an exacerbating factor. What will become of freedom, pluralism, and the credibility of information between now and 2030? The answer to this question is what is at stake today, reflects the Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire.
In the publication of its 2020 World Press Freedom Index, the ranking is led by Norway (fourth consecutive time in the first place), Finland, and Denmark. Sweden and the Netherlands fell and occupy the fourth and fifth places due to “the increase in cases of harassment of journalists on the Internet.” The United States, ranked 45, is not far behind either. Journalists cannot freely cover news related to surveillance or espionage.
RSF also found out a clear correlation between press freedom repression during the pandemic and the position which countries take in the Press Freedom Index. China (177th) and Iran (173rd), epicenters of the pandemic, established massive censorship devices, according to the organization.
In Iraq (162nd), the sitting government suspended Reuters’ license for three months, a few hours after it made a news publication where it doubted the figures of COVID-19 cases released by the government, according to Reuters.
The press can no longer “provide clear and factual information” – The European Parliament
Talking about complete financial control of the press during a pandemic crisis-economic crisis, which has turned them cash-strapped, the European Parliament admits that the sector is hard-hit and are finding it difficult to provide factual, accurate, and objective journalism.
“The sector is facing a massive drop in advertising revenues and Parliament fears the worsening financial situation could mean news organizations are no longer able to provide clear and factual information and counter disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic,” reads a publication on the official European Parliament news site.
Plummetting media revenues
Due to the pandemic, many newspapers have discontinued their print edition. In Australia, up to 60 newspaper companies had to stop production because of advertising revenue downturn, the CGTN reports.
“The coronavirus crisis has created unprecedented economic pressures and we are doing everything we can to preserve as many jobs as possible,” News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller was quoted by the group’s Australian newspaper title. “The suspension of our community print editions has been forced on us by the rapid decline in advertising revenues following the restrictions placed on real estate auctions and home inspections, the forced closure of event venues and dine-in restaurants in the wake of the coronavirus emergency,” he added.
In Hungary, media critical of the government are starting appeals for donations, according to multiple sources. The country’s few independent media are struggling with dwindling resources. Because in Hungary the advertising revenues are breaking down. This hits the government-critical media particularly hard, as government-loyal media are often very generously supplied with advertising from state-owned corporations. Therefore, platforms such as 444.hu and Index have launched calls for donations so that they could get through the crisis, according to a report by the Washington Post.
“Index is under such external pressure that could spell out the end of our editorial staff as we know it,” Szabolcs Dull, a recently ousted Editor in Chief of the media house wrote in June. “We will keep you updated on the developments… as long as we can. As long as we are allowed. As long as we are free.”
By decree against fake news
In Romania, too, the rulers want to retain the authority to interpret their crisis management – especially now in the corona pandemic. Since mid-March, this has also included the intensified fight against false information – whether in the mass media or on websites. According to the presidential decree, which was released in an official gazette, the Bucharest Interior Ministry is currently deciding what is wrong and what is the right information. It may cause the deletion or blocking of online articles and websites without the authors currently being able to legally defend against it. In May, it started shutting down websites with purportedly fake COVID 19 news, the Euractiv reports.
Under the pretext of preventing the spread of fake news about the disease, several governments passed far-reaching ordinances and laws that permanently limit freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In the Philippines, for example, the spread of false claims about COVID-19 can be punished by an emergency law with up to two months in prison, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). As a result, dozens of social media users were arrested for allegedly disseminating misinformation.
Critical voices are also intimidated in Hungary. The Orban’s government has introduced new criminal offenses as part of an emergency law. Those who publish distorted facts face up to five years imprisonment – a formulation that opens the door to arbitrariness and makes Orbán “rule by decree,” as The Guardian puts it.
Undemocratic states are hard-hit
Not to mention countries in which there is no formal democratic system – reporters in the dictatorships of Turkmenistan or North Korea can only dream of freedom of the press. These countries are also in the last two places in the latest ranking of press freedom by the NGO Reporters Without Borders.
Journalists were jailed in Algeria, Jordan, and Zimbabwe, while informants who contributed to Western media coverage disappeared in China. The coronavirus crisis has seen massive censorship in countries like China and Iran, whose regimes have perfected their model of hyper-control of information related to the coronavirus and the repression of dissidents, according to Al-Jazeera.
In China, where the disease first broke out, the government tried to hide its true extent through strict censorship. Several citizen journalists disappeared. Hundreds of users of social media were arrested by the Chinese ‘Internet Police’ “for spreading rumors,” according to the NYTimes. Also, foreign journalists were expelled from the country, according to a March report by Al-Jazeera during the peak of the outbreak in China.
And according to The Times magazine, China, in fact, remains the world’s largest prison for journalists, followed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with about a hundred incarcerated, mostly Uighurs.
Far away in South America, journalists from Venezuela report that they were threatened by officials after they had informed them about possible corona cases and poor conditions in hospitals, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also reports.
Free reporting is important
In view of these serious restrictions, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, reminded the states of the important role of freedom of expression.
“Free flow of information is crucial in any democratic society, and especially in a context of crisis and social unrest”, said the UN rights chief, “but even more so, in the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and where people might feel compelled to express dissent online rather than on the streets.”
“State authorities must allow and facilitate the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and not repress it”, added the top rights official. “People have the right to speak up and express dissent, even more in the context of elections, when democratic freedoms should be upheld, not suppressed.”
Conclusion:
As Deloire warns, journalism is already in a decisive decade, due to the simultaneous crises that affect the future of the press. The pandemic is showing negative factors regarding the respect of the right to reliable information when the people need them most. And for this decisive decade not to end up turning more catastrophic, Deloire advises that “good people, whoever they are and wherever they are, must mobilize so that journalism can fulfill the essential function of being a solvent witness for societies.”
