"This International Media Support report explores criminal justice and human rights mechanisms to protect journalists, media workers and human rights advocates in an effort to combat impunity in The Gambia. It is the culmination of an innovative approach to hold perpetrators of attacks, killings and
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disappearances of those exercising their right to free expression to account and accentuates the importance of robust, collaborative support to protect journalists and the commitment to end impunity. The heart of this report recognizes that responding to threats and attacks against journalists means being prepared to scrutinize investigations and the laws that govern them." (Back cover)
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"En 2019, se reportaron 2.521 alertas relacionadas con violaciones a la libertad de expresión, libertad de prensa y acceso a la información a lo largo de 8 países. VDS reportó 734 alertas de los mismos países en 2018. Tanto de manera regional como local, la información nos habla sobre un rápi
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do deterioro en la libertad de expresión, libertad de prensa y acceso a la información en el contexto de creciente represión y restricciones. Esta situación habla de la alta vulnerabilidad de estas libertades fundamentales en América Latina y como socaban de manera seria la paz, justicia y democracia en la región, bloqueando la Agenda 2030. En Honduras, Venezuela y Nicaragua el abuso sistemático de las instituciones públicas impone un estado (no) oficial de censura, incluyendo el encarcelamiento de periodistas, la creación de leyes para limitar la libertad de expresión y fuertes restricciones para acceder a recursos claves. En Bolivia, Ecuador, y Guatemala la dramática inestabilidad social y política resultante de las protestas masivas donde los derechos humanos básicos—incluyendo la seguridad y protección a periodistas y el acceso a información pública—fueron gravemente violentados. En Brasil y Argentina la violencia contra periodistas y medios de comunicación no se ha materializado en ataques sistemáticos, pero se manifiesta en una violencia discursiva, acoso, intimidación y amenazas, las cuales, a la larga buscan imponer miedo y auto censura. En Perú y Uruguay, a pesar de tener los niveles más bajos de violencia en contra de periodistas y medios de comunicación en la región, los retos para acceder a la información persisten a través de ataques y agresiones aislados y procesos judiciales ocasionales por calumnias y difamación." (Resumen ejecutivo)
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"This chapter deals with lèse-majesté laws and their impact on the exercise of freedom of political expression and journalism from the perspective of international human rights law. In doing so, it addresses the chilling effects of the application of a particular crime of lèse-majesté, namely
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defaming a head of state”, which are emphasized with historical and current examples from Turkey: a country that exemplifies the excesses in practice. Said excesses are assessed in light of the standards of freedom of political expression set by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, which also demonstrates the excesses in other European countries and provides a comparative outlook. In conclusion, it is inferred that the mere existence of lèse-majesté crimes puts the rule of law at risk, thereby forcing journalists and other citizens alike to resort to self-censorship in violation of international human rights law as interpreted by the regional human rights mechanism." (Abstract)
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"The Anglo-American intelligence agencies' use of journalists as spies or propagandists and the practice of providing intelligence agents in the field with journalistic cover have been a source of controversy for many decades. This article examines the extent to which these covert practices have tak
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en place and whether they have put journalists' lives in danger. This article, drawing on various methodologies, examines a number of cases where the arrest, murder or kidnap of journalists was justified on the grounds that the journalist was a 'spy'. This has been followed through with research, using a range of sources, that shows there have been many occasions when the distinction between spies and journalists has been opaque. The article concludes that widespread use of journalistic cover by spies has put lives in danger, but that the extent is unquantifiable." (Abstract)
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"Online harassment and abuse against women journalists has become a major hazard to the profession. One that threatens women journalists’ ability to do their jobs. It violates their right to freedom of expression as much as it hampers free and open access to information for all members of society.
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This #SOFJO Resource Guide formulates an answer to that threat. It aims to assist States and non-State actors across the OSCE region in taking real actions to improve the safety of female journalists online. The practices presented are all examples of ways in which international standards and commitments can be realized. This #SOFJO Resource Guide provides the key actors with a brief selection of the most relevant and achievable steps. Taken together, these steps form an interrelated structure in which women journalists can continue their profession online in a safer manner." (Back cover)
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"Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important tool for shaping and arbitrating online information. It is increasingly, and often invisibly, used by both public authorities and private companies, and greatly impacts the way people seek, receive, impart and access information. Cou
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pled with its ability to identify, surveil and track people, AI can seriously impede on the right to freedom of expression. This #SAIFE Paper puts a spotlight on AI and freedom of expression, and provides guidance and preliminary recommendations on how to effectively safeguard free speech when AI is deployed." (Back cover)
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"On 26 February 1976, after almost a century of colonization, Spain withdrew from Western Sahara, throwing the territory wide open for Moroccan civil and military occupation and abandoning tens of thousands Sahrawis to their fate. More than four decades later, the Western Sahara, officially the last
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territory in Africa that remains to be decolonized, is still trapped in political limbo, divided into three parts: the areas occupied by Morocco, those held by the Polisario Front, and the refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria). Journalism is one of the many victims of this conflict, which has been forgotten by the media spotlight and left as a virtual news “black hole”. Morocco, ranked 135th in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, controls information in the territory with an iron fist, ruthlessly punishing the practice of local journalism and blocking foreign media access. Torture, arrests, physical abuse, persecution, intimidation, harassment, slander, defamation, technological sabotage, and lengthy prison sentences are daily fare for Sahrawi journalists. Despite the severity of Morocco’s repression and its policy of deporting foreign correspondents, and despite the silence on the conflict reigning in world media, Sahrawi reporters of a new generation are running extraordinary risks to keep the torch of journalism burning and to prevent Western Sahara from being buried under the sands of oblivion." (Abstract)
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"From a normative standpoint the media are usually seen as one of the pillars of a national integrity system, entrusted with the tasks of exposing and preventing acts of corruption and educating the public of the harm caused by corruption. Nevertheless, corruption continues to be one of the most sig
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nificant challenges that Europe faces, undermining citizens' trust in democratic institutions and weakening the accountability of political leadership. Evidence suggests that in fragile EU democracies such as Bulgaria, despite more than eight years of full membership and numerous preventive measures, corruption is rife and the press is hardly capable of exposing abuses of power or authority. On the contrary - drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 Bulgarian journalists - this paper argues that since communism collapsed in the late 1980s the media in post-communist societies such as Bulgaria has gradually become an instrument to promote and defend private vested interests, and is plagued by corruption. Senior journalists and editors cast serious doubt over the ability of the post-communist free press and journalism to act as a watchdog for society." (Abstract)
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"Entre enero y diciembre de 2018, se registraron 387 casos/situaciones en los que se vulneró el derecho a la libertad de expresión, lo que representa un total de 608 denuncias de violaciones al derecho. Esto representa una reducción del 45% de los casos y de 41% en las violaciones respecto al 201
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7. Sin embargo, el 2018 se ubica como el segundo periodo con mayor cantidad de casos, al desplazar al 2014 que registró 350 situaciones en un tiempo de alta conflictividad social y política. El impedimento de cobertura en la calle a través del desalojo, las detenciones arbitrarias, y el enfrentamiento que algunas veces escala en agresiones, se sostiene como patrón regular, con especial incidencia en periodos de alta tensión social o política. En el mes de mayo se llevó a cabo un acto electoral convocado por la ilegítima asamblea nacional constituyente, evento que no cumplió con las condiciones básicas para un proceso libre, universal, auténtico y democrático; esto recrudeció el panorama de la crisis política, empeoró la situación social y económica, ante la ausencia de condiciones y voluntad política para la ejecución de medidas correctivas eficientes. En agosto se aplicaron las medidas económicas por parte del Ejecutivo Nacional que implicó un aumento salarial del 5900%, lo que se tradujo en el cierre de empresas por la incapacidad de pagar los sueldos, entre ellos al menos 12 medios de comunicación." (Comienzo del documento)
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"Drawing from 93 semi-structured, in-person interviews with journalists from 23 states, this article analyzes the relation between trust and risk perception in Mexican journalism. It focuses on how Mexican journalists perceive and experience public trust placed in them as social actors, and how it i
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nfluences their willingness or reluctance to assume the risks associated with reporting on corruption and drug-trafficking in a country marked by anti-press violence. The findings challenge previous studies as they show that journalists from all regions of the country –even in the so-called safe states– are fearful, even when they have not been victims of threats, beatings or kidnappings. Also, it explains that the connection between institutions and journalism makes news workers feel unprotected and unaccompanied. As a result, they accept self-censorship and even express a willingness to resign. Thus, this article surpasses the social, spatial and temporal delimitations of risk, by arguing that distrust in journalists increases the dangers they face." (Abstract)
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"Focusing on the period between the 2014 coup and flawed elections in March 2019, “To Speak Out is Dangerous” draws on interviews with individuals prosecuted for exercising their rights to speech or assembly, lawyers, journalists, students, and activists, and examination of police charge sheets,
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court documents, news reports, and official statements. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the overly broad and vaguely worded laws that the Thai government has most frequently used to violate internationally protected rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Human Rights Watch calls on the Thai government to stop using criminal laws against peaceful speech and protest; repeal all remaining NCPO orders restricting basic rights; and bring Thailand’s laws, policies, and practices into conformity with international human rights law and standards for the protection of freedom of expression, association, and assembly." (Back cover)
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"This report—based largely on interviews in Myanmar and analysis of legal and policy changes since 2016—assesses the NLD government’s record on freedom of expression and assembly in its more than two years in power. It updates Human Rights Watch’s prior report, “They Can Arrest You at Any
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Time”: The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Burma, issued in June 2016, focusing on the laws most commonly used to suppress speech. We conclude that freedom of expression in Myanmar is deteriorating, directly affecting a wide range of people, from Facebook users critical of officials to students performing a satirical anti-war play. Domestic journalists are particularly at risk." (Page 2)
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"This entry introduces the concept of violence against journalists and the press. It synthesizes multiple approaches to the phenomenon to create a comprehensive definition, reviews dimensions of violence and the occupational and individual domains in which they create harm, identifies key findings a
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nd gaps in academic and advocacy organization literature, and explores future directions for research on this phenomenon." (Abstract)
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