Reports, Working Papers and Policy Briefs

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Brief No.1: Media Restrictions and the Implications for Gender Equality in Afghanistan

Michelle Gehrig

Kabul: UN Women (2022), 29 pp.

"After nearly 20 years of international investment and successful efforts to build a diverse media landscape and strengthen journalism standards, the Afghan media sector has fundamentally changed for the worse since the Taliban (also referred herein to as the de facto authorities) takeover on 15 Aug ... more

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The Universal Periodic Review (UPR): Model Recommendations in the Field of Freedom of Expression, Safety of Journalists and Access to Information

UNESCO (2022), 14 pp.

"This note provides suggestions for Member States on how to word the recommendations for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the field of freedom of expression, safety of journalists and access to information. The background and recommendations below can also assist UN Country Teams, National Hum ... more

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Lives, Jobs, Homeland: Afghan Women Journalists Lose All

Association of Women in Radio and Television (AWRT-K) (2022), 52 pp.

"According to a survey conducted by Reporters without Borders (RSF) in December 2021, from 10,790 people working in Afghan media (8,290 men and 2,490 women) at the start of August 2021, only 4,360 (3,950 men and 410 women) were still working and the number may reduce even further. For this survey, d ... ata were collected through online and in-person manual surveys in May 2022. The questionnaire included 23 questions and was completed by 308 respondents in Dari (75.97%) and Pashto (24.03%). All 100 percent respondents were female. The survey largely represented reporters (54.87%), followed by journalists (19.16%), producers (9.74%), presenters (3.90%) and others (12.01%). [...] A majority of respondents (67.86%) reported that they have lost their jobs since the de facto authorties’ takeover of Afghanistan in August. The highest ratio of respondents having lost their jobs compared to the respondents interviewed were in Bamyan (100%), followed by Kandahar (91%), Balkh (85%), Badakhshan (68%) and Kabul (62%). 60.39% of respondents reported that they have felt ‘major changes’ since the collapse of the former government. In addition, 28.90% respondents reported changes in some cases. As for the level of restrictions imposed on reporting since the de facto authorities’ takeover of power, an astounding 80.52% of respondents reported the case to be ‘very restricted’. As far as the reporting autonomy is concerned, 45.13% respondents mentioned that ‘Government Interferences have Increased’, while 35.71% responded as ‘Bad’ meaning the independency in journalists’ reporting is bad. 46.75% of respondents mentioned that the de facto authorities’ spokespersons do not respond to female journalists, followed by 29.55% who mentioned that they do respond, but just in some cases. All 100% of the respondents reported that they have received some kind of threat since the de facto authorities have taken over the power, and reported the major threat against female journalists to be the new restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities (52.9%), followed by the gender-based discrimination (18.8%), and threats posed by extremist groups (16.9%). A majority of the respondents (55.19%) reported that they were restricted from their work specifically due to their outfit/sense of clothing and some (27.92%) reported that they have experienced the same but to some extent only." (Executive summary, pages 5-6) more

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Fighting SLAPPs: What Can Media, Lawyers, and Funders Do?

Peter Noorlander

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 16 pp.

"Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, are lawsuits taken against media organizations or activists with the sole purpose of silencing them. They typically involve a huge disparity in resources and the claimant’s tactic is to use the lawsuit, or threat of a lawsuit, to divert ... more

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SLAPPs against journalists across Europe

Article 19; Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) (2022), 86 pp.

"This report provides a Europe-wide overview of lawsuits that are taken to stifle scrutiny and public debate on issues such as corruption, mismanagement of public resources, and human rights violations. Such lawsuits, known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are taken by pow ... more

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Violence Against Female Journalists in Indonesia: A Threat to Journalism and Freedom of the Press

Engelbertus Wendratama, Rahayu, Novi Kurnia, Puji Rianto, Monika Pretty Aprilia

Pemantau Regulasi dan Regulator Media (PR2Media); USAID (2022), 110 pp.

"This research was conducted through a survey (involving 1,256 respondents) and interviews (six informants) of female journalists in 191 cities, representing western, central, and eastern parts of Indonesia. This survey included 25 questions about the respondents’ violence experiences related to t ... more

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Bajo riesgo: Cómo superar las deficiencias de los programas de protección de periodistas en América Latina (Brasil, Colombia, Honduras y México)

Paris: Reporteros sin Fronteras (2022), 140 pp.

"Este estudio, apoyado por la UNESCO, es el resultado de una investigación de nueve meses de RSF sobre la eficiencia, el impacto y los desafíos de estas políticas públicas a nivel regional, con un enfoque específico en asegurar la protección de periodistas y comunicadores. Los resultados refue ... more

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Reset Required? Evaluating the Media Freedom Coalition After its First Two Years

Mary Myers, Martin Scott, Mel Bunce, Lina Yassin, Maria Carmen Fernandez, Rachel Khan

University of East Anglia (UEA); City University of London; University of the Philippines-Diliman (2022), 69 pp.

"The purpose of this report is to evaluate the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) in its first two years of operation, from 2019 to 2021. The MFC is a partnership of 50 countries working together to advocate for media freedom and the safety of journalists. Our independent report is based on over 100 inte ... more

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Freedom of Expression and the Safety of Foreign Correspondents: Trends, Challenges and Responses

William Horsley, Meera Selva

Paris: UNESCO (2021), 16 pp.

"There is a worldwide increase in hostility against journalists who report for external audiences, which especially impedes reporting from conflict areas and on important social and political matters. Some political leaders have sought to discredit and delegitimize both journalists from abroad and l ... more

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Safety of journalists in Germany

Bernd Holznagel, Jan Christopher Kalbhenn

In: Safety of journalists in Europe: Threats and best practices to tackle them

Mária Žuffová, Roberta Carlini (eds.)

San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute (2021), pp. 43-52

"The physical and digital safety of journalists is an important parameter to assess basic conditions for a plural media environment. If one examines the situation in Germany based on the given categories, it becomes clear that there are problems in various areas. At the same time, however, ideas alr ... more

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Safety of journalists in Europe: Threats and best practices to tackle them

Mária Žuffová, Roberta Carlini (eds.)

San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute (2021), 53 pp.

"Journalists around the world face immense threats for doing their job. Although compared to other regions, the situation in Europe is considerably better; many challenges need to be addressed here as well to ensure conducive conditions for the conduct of journalistic work. The present working paper ... more

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Safety of Journalists in France

Jedediah Sklower, Franck Rebillard

In: Safety of journalists in Europe: Threats and best practices to tackle them

Mária Žuffová, Roberta Carlini (eds.)

San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute (2021), pp. 31-42

"The 2020 law for “global security” and the National law enforcement plan (Schéma national du maintien de l’ordre), presented by the Minister of the Interior, meant to address, among other questions, the issue of the safety of journalists during demonstrations. Considering growing defiance an ... more

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Safe. Strong. Viable. The Symbiosis Between Media Safety and Media Viability

Laura Moore, Petra Aldenrath, Nadine Jurrat (eds.)

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2021), 41 pp.

"The interviews and the analyses by the experts show that: –– Quality content increases safety. The editors interviewed for this publication confirm that fair and balanced journalism, which clearly distinguishes between facts and opinion and treats the people at the center of the story with resp ... more

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Reporting Safely: An assessment of risk management practices employed by news organisations in support of journalists operating in areas of conflict, 2009-2019

Mark Alexander Grant

University of Portsmouth (2021), 267 pp.

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La protection internationale des journalistes en mission professionnelle périlleuse: Enquête sur un défi impossible

Charlotte Meyer

Paris: L'Harmattan (2021), 17 pp.

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Shared Responsibility: Safeguarding Press Freedom in Perilous Times. Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Media Safety
Top Insights

Elisabeth Witchel et al.

Copenhagen: International Media Support (IMS) (2020), 91 pp.

"This report identifies five major challenges for developing national plans for safety of journalists and how stakeholders are tackling them. The points addressed concern gaining engagement around safety of journalists by state actors, uniting and focusing efforts of disparate stakeholders into a du ... more

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Protecting the Safety of Journalists, Protecting Freedom of Expression: A Handbook for EU Delegations
Key Guidance

Brussels: Media4Democracy (2020), 102 pp.

"This Handbook, which provides non-compulsory technical guidance to EU Delegations, aims to provide tools and hands-on examples to support them in implementing the the 2014 'EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline' and in taking actions to support the safety and securi ... more

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Safety of Journalists and the Fighting of Corruption in the EU

Tarlach McGonagle, Ronan Ó Fathaigh, Gionata Bouché, Melinda Rucz et al.

Brussels: European Parliament, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (2020), 112 pp.

"Journalism and journalists face a growing range of threats, including violence and harassment; the misuse of defamation and other laws against them, and restrictive measures on freedom of information and expression adopted in response to the Covid-19 crisis. States must ensure a safe and favourable ... more

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Strengthening Media Freedom: The Protection of Journalists in Europe, Hate Speech, Disinformation and the Role of Platforms

Gianluca Sgueo

European Parliament (2020), 20 pp.

"European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2020 on strengthening media freedom: the protection of journalists in Europe, hate speech, disinformation and the role of platforms (2020/2009(INI))." (Introduction)

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A Mission to Inform: Journalists at Risk Speak Out

Marilyn Clark, William Horsley

Strasbourg: Council of Europe (2020), 149 pp.

"The present study brings together a unique collection of open testimonies from 20 journalists working in different member states of the Council of Europe. Each of these journalists spoke about the risks and pressures they perceived and experienced in exercising their profession, as well as their st ... more

Shared Responsibility: Safeguarding Press Freedom in Perilous Times. Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Media Safety Top Insights

Protecting the Safety of Journalists, Protecting Freedom of Expression: A Handbook for EU Delegations Key Guidance

Shared Responsibility: Safeguarding Press Freedom in Perilous Times. Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Media Safety
Top Insights

Protecting the Safety of Journalists, Protecting Freedom of Expression: A Handbook for EU Delegations
Key Guidance