By: Iman Handiman (Chairman of the Indonesia Cyber Media Editorial Forum)
IN THE last year, the press has truly seen why accurate and impartial news is more important than ever.
Based on the background of misinformation related to a global pandemic – in Indonesia it is being shown directly through various fabricating handling and treatment of patients – journalists face intimidation, harassment and danger to report news for the public interest.
On World Press Freedom Day, which is celebrated on May 3, 2023, at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), New York, United States, we celebrate independent journalism and appreciate journalists around the world who risk their safety to report the news. Especially for the reporters, photographers, videographers, editors, problem solvers, and support crews on the front lines where news is being broadcasted.
Internal teams of all media organizations often operate on the ground under significant threat – some report anonymously to avoid retaliation. However, the media crew all around is generally unshakable.
At Reuters, internal reporting is powerful because it combines deep local expertise with global understanding.
This ‘globality’ is their expertise. Their news reaches billions of people every day –through their channels and the world’s media – and underpins public discourse worldwide.
Today, Reuters reaffirms its commitment to independent journalism, as embodied in its core principles, and to protect the right of journalists to do their job without fear of harassment or harm.
In a world without independent journalism, society would be vulnerable to manipulation and even have no way of knowing, even less resisting.
On this 30th World Press Freedom Day, let’s imagine what everyday life would be like without independent-minded journalism that brings context to the maelstrom of events, that exposes irregularities –and that holds power to account.
Unfortunately, the request was not simply an exercise for the mind. Press freedom is under pressure in many areas around the world: from government repression and political turmoil, to economic changes and technological advances.
In some countries, only the façade of press freedom remains. Elsewhere, even that facade has collapsed.
A record 28 countries scored the lowest rating of “very serious situation” in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is the most prominent member of the unhappy group, ranking 155th out of 180 countries. Also, it builds on Russia’s actions before it fully launched its wartime suppression of press freedom, before the Putin regime unlawfully jailed Russian journalists and before the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Worldwide, 548 journalists and 22 media workers are currently imprisoned, according to Reporters Without Borders, an increase of more than 50% throughout 2022.
Since the start of this year, one media worker and six journalists have been killed. The authoritarian crackdown in Russia and elsewhere is a clear attack on press freedom, and fortunately for Canada.
However, there are subtler pressures that threaten to erode the very foundations of press freedom – and the country is far from immune.
Two decades ago, Canada was ranked fifth by Reporters Without Borders; as of 2022, they have fallen to 19th in the rankings.
Political polarization, and the distrust in journalism it incubates, are a growing danger and part of the reason Canada’s press freedom rating has worsened.
Shouts of fake news or, more recently, misinformation have been weaponized against news outlets that do not show sufficient respect for partisan sensitivities.
On the other hand, the rise of explicitly partisan outlets is the antithesis of journalism: they seek to reinforce prejudice and prejudice and to quell curiosity and doubt.
This is not a plea of sympathy for journalists (a commodity whose supply is admittedly limited), but rather for journalism’s mission – to describe events in the most accurate way possible, to reveal the truth as best it can. It’s a messy business, and journalists never carry out that mission perfectly.
An ambition, that is repeated daily, is what distinguishes journalism from partisan propaganda.
That mission is more important than ever in a digital environment where social media fuels division and accelerates the spread of propaganda, and governments hostile to democracy use the tool for nefarious ends.
Not as bad as before the digital age but just as corrosive as the fast-changing news business economy. Dozens of smaller publications have been closed or culled as advertising cookies have migrated en masse to Big Tech’s digital platforms.
All private sector editors must face the fact that the 20th-century business model is gone forever. The good news is that paying consumers of news, as never before, is the foundation of the economics of journalism. The bad news is that there aren’t enough of them.
Lurking around the corner is an even bigger potential distraction: artificial intelligence (AI). Deep falsehood today is only the opening act of a technology that could soon gain the power to make it a reality. How could ordinary citizens sift through, and see through those lies?
The answer is – journalism, and the shared dedication to truth by those who write and broadcast the news, and by those who read and watch it.
anangfadhilah
