Disinformation, hate speech and deadly attacks against journalists are threatening freedom of the press worldwide, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, calling for greater solidarity with the people who bring us the news.
Social media has long been a boon to press freedom, allowing journalists from all over the world to make their voices heard, grow an audience, and build trust.
But rampant disinformation has increasingly eroded the space for trustworthy information online, multiplying risks for the journalists who help separate fact from fiction.
On the 15th anniversary of the International Day of Democracy, commemorated on Thursday, the UN chief observed that “across the world, democracy is backsliding”.
In this week’s show, two in three children in Ukraine have now had to flee the war since the Russian invasion, UNICEF takes no pleasure in telling us, while UN humanitarians have confirmed they’re now helping some 300 evacuees who’ve been bussed out of the devastated Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. And as refugee numbers rise globally, we’ll be finding out what soul legend Dionne Warwick thinks about this growing global emergency.
If you like political cartoons, chances are that you’ve come across the work of Patrick Chappatte, in leading international newspapers and journals.
In addition to his prolific output, Mr. Chappate is also president of the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation; to coincide with World Press Freedom Day 2022 on 3 May, it’s unveiled a new exhibition in Geneva, featuring drawings by other top illustrators who take great risks to stand up to authority.
Journalists and media workers are facing “increasing politicization” of their work and threats to their freedom to simply do their jobs, that are “growing by the day”, said the UN chief, marking World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday.
The United Nations Secretary-General on Monday urged governments to “do everything in their power” to support free, independent and diverse media, which the UN’s top human rights official highlighted as “a cornerstone of democratic societies”.
How do you keep the cameras rolling as a member of one of the biggest TV broadcast organizations in the world, in the middle of a global health crisis?
That’s been the challenge for Liz Corbin, Head of News at the European Broadcasting Union, a public service provider, whose members' programmes reach more than a billion people in dozens of countries.
Journalists are key to countering the “dangerous outbreak of misinformation” accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Secretary-General said on Monday during a virtual dialogue on promoting press freedom amid the global crisis.