Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/media-freedom/)
Two editors from India and Hungary, respectively, Ritu Kapur and Peter Erdelyi, offer survival tips based on how their outlets have managed to stay afloat in the face of press freedom challenges in backsliding democracies.
The 2023 edition of the Freedom in the World report, produced by US nonprofit Freedom House, was released today. This is the 50th year of the study, which tracks global trends and compiles individual country reports on political rights and liberties.
Sujag, a long-form digital investigative journalism platform in Pakistan, is committed to highlighting voices from the margins. With recent stories on child marriage, acid attacks, and why women from poor communities are finding it so difficult to access coronavirus vaccinations, Sujag’s editors proudly say their journalistic ethos prioritizes “siding with the marginalized” over neutrality.
The Ukrainian investigative group Bihus.info has built a name for itself investigating corruption. It formed in the aftermath of the Ukrainian Revolution, as journalists tried to piece together some of the documents destroyed and damaged by the former regime. Today, they are battling a tough media freedom environment and investigations into their own staff and reporters which slow them down and which they see as an effort to pressure them in relation to their reporting.
We’re pleased to run this excerpt from the recent report, Propaganda and Freedom of the Media, produced by the Office of The Representative on Freedom of the Media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). “These are trying times,” said the Representative, Dunja Mijatović, at the November 26 roll out of the report, during which she branded propaganda “an ugly scar on the face of modern journalism” and called on governments “to get out of the news business.”
At a time when press freedom is deteriorating in many states participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, having a voice to raise journalist cases and hold governments to account is vital. In a recent interview, the organization’s new Freedom of the Media representative Harlem Désir discusses his plans and explains why he is prioritizing journalist safety, fighting impunity and combating violent extremism online.