AEJ Sections and journalist around Europe mark World Press Freedom Day: paying tribute to courageous journalists and demanding safe working environments.
The Romanian Section of the AEJ (AZIR) celebrates World Press Freedom Day with a special event on 7 May focused on journalists’ dealing with those who wield political power. For the first time the AZIR Prize for the Independence of the Journalist will be awarded. The winner will be Tia Serbanescu, one of the most free spirits of contemporary Romanian journalism. Tia writes incisively and with humour about the society around her and the unedifying spectacle of Romanian politics today, maintaining her independence and exposing the follies and weaknesses of all political sides with equal candour. The event will be attended by AZIR members, fellow-journalists, media experts from the University of Political Sciences and the University of Journalism, and others who are committed to strengthening and protecting independent journalists who now have to work in difficult and often hostile environments.
In the UK the AEJ has responded jointly with Index on Censorship to urge the British government to rethink its proposals for new, wide-ranging regulation of “online harms” as set out recently in an online harms white paper. The government’s outline proposals are that a new legal duty of care by platforms would be established covering a very broad range of “harms”, for example disinformation and violent content. In combination with substantial fines and potentially even personal criminal liability for senior managers there I concern that it would create a strong incentive for platforms to remove content proactively – including news stories that might be deemed ‘harmful’ by the propoed new regulator although their contents is not illegal.
Other proposals in the white paper may also have damaging impacts on media freedom, such as potential ISP blocking (making a platform inaccessible in or from the UK). The draft provisions for ensuring protection of users’ rights online, particularly freedom of expression, rights to privacy and the public interest are now sketchy and inadequate, and they need to be robust, detailed and provided for in law.
The government’s proposals were the subject of a media freedom alert on the Council of Europe’ Platform for the afety of journalist on April 25.
Index on Censorship and the AEJ have asked the government to provide in unequivocal and concrete detail how it intends to establish such safeguards to make the future system of online regulation compatible with the UK’s obligations to uphold journalism and media freedom.
The alert can be viewed here:
Also in the UK the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will pay tribute to the life and work of the murdered Northern Ireland journalist Lyra McKee. The event take place on the evening of May 3, with NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, and other speakers at the Free Word Centre in London. Funds raised by ticket sales will go towards the International Federation of Journalists Safety Fund.
On World Press Freedom Day the occasion will be an opportunity to review the range of challenges and threats facing journalists and press freedom throughout the world, and to pay respects to journalists who are currently in prison as well as to those who paid the ultimate price in the line of duty.
World Press Freedom Day UNESCO conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Journalism in Times of Disinformation
The relationship between the press and democracy will be the main theme of this year’s edition of World Press Freedom Day (3 May) jointly organized by UNESCO, the Ethiopian government and the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), from 1 to 3 May. More than one hundred events will also take place around the world in observance of the day.
How can journalism rise above emotional content and fake news during an election? What should be done to counter speeches demeaning journalists? To what extent should electoral regulations be applied to the internet? This year’s World Press Freedom Day, whose theme is “Media for Democracy, Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”, will be the occasion to reflect on these current issues.
Among the highlights will be the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize award ceremony on the evening of 2 May. The prize will be awarded, on the recommendation of an independent international jury, to imprisoned Myanmar journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone by Audrey Azoulay, in the presence of Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, and African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson, Amb. Kwesi Quartey.
This year, UNESCO also launched the Defend Journalism Campaign that encourages media to show their solidarity for a free and independent press through the use of banners on their printed publications and digital platforms.
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