Document of the Day

Pandemic Accelerates Global Decline in Digital Freedom

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In this edition of Document of the Day, we feature a new report out today from Freedom House, a US-based think tank, about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected digital freedoms around the world. The report includes details on governments’ actions that have curtailed citizens’ access to open information on the web, and the website features and interactive map where users can see which countries made the “free” list and which ones didn’t.

News & Analysis

The 20 Leading Digital Predators of Press Freedom Around the World

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Reporters Sans Frontieres published, for the first time, a list of press freedom’s 20 worst digital predators in 2020. Whether state offshoots, private-sector companies, or informal entities, they reflect a reality of power at the end of the 21st century’s second decade, in which investigative reporters and other journalists who cause displeasure risk being the targets of predatory activity by often hidden actors.

Censorship

Less than 14% of World Lives in Countries with Free Press

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The percentage of the global population living in countries with a free press is at the lowest level in more than a decade, according to the findings of Freedom of the Press 2013: A Global Survey of Media Independence, a new report by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Freedom House. The report found that just 14 percent of the world’s population — about one in six people—live in societies “where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.”

blockchain

Can Civil’s Blockchain Save Journalism?

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With a $5 million funding budget, the new platform is dreamily promising a new “canvas on which journalists can paint the future of their industry.” But it isn’t clear how the blockchain-based technology will generate the cold hard cash needed to sustain the industry’s revenue-starved publications, writes Rowan Philp for GIJN.

Arab Spring

Tips for Working in Bahrain

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Full guide here. العربية | বাংলা

Media Environment
The Bahraini constitution guarantees  freedom of expression and the press, excluding opinions that undermine the fundamental beliefs of Islam or the “unity of the people” and those that promote “discord or sectarianism.”

Arab

Arab Investigative Reporters: Life On The Edge

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In the seven years since the Arab Spring, hope has given way to deep disappointment. Arab officials are increasingly operating with impunity, and by failing to question, investigate and then reveal, journalists are indirectly complicit. Rana Sabbagh, executive director of the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism calls on journalists in the Arab world not to remain silent bystanders in the face of wrongdoing.