"This Situation Report on the “Impact of COVID-19 on Media Freedom, Media Business Viability, and the Safety of Journalists in Southeast Asia” offers an insight into the key impacts of the pandemic on the media across nine countries. The report proposes recommendations for enabling sustainable a
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nd effective media standards to improve media freedom and the safety of journalists. It also explores potential solutions, and innovations for media business viability in the region. The publication comes at a time when news organisations have been forced to accelerate their move to providing more extensive digital services due to various lockdown restrictions, with some not having the resources to make this transition successfully. These additional financial pressures caused by COVID-19 are happening against a backdrop of broader threats to media freedom and the safety of journalists. Another challenge facing media freedom in the region is the introduction of laws purporting to combat the spread of disinformation and misinformation. While such laws have been introduced under the guise of protecting the public, they are more often used as tools to limit the ability of journalists to hold power to account. As countries geared up to fight COVID-19, a crackdown on independent journalism and critical reporting ensued. Many news outlets and media workers, notably journalists, have faced unprecedented risks to their physical and mental well-being, amid unrelenting, and intensified crackdowns on media freedom. Creating a safe and enabling environment for media and journalists to be able to work independently is a prerequisite for democracies to flourish. The issues pertaining to the safety of journalists and media sustainability during a time of crisis such as COVID-19, require attention from all stakeholders, including both state and non-state actors." (Summary, page 115)
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"In this paper, we share selected insights from our work across seven countries facing complex and often protracted preexisting humanitarian crises before the pandemic. Over the past nine months, with Internews’ Rooted in Trust project, we have worked to understand the role of rumors and misinform
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ation in the pandemic and to support humanitarian and media communicators to listen, engage and respond to community information needs. Many of the insights we offer here are derived from our research to map the Information Ecosystems in seven geographies, drawing from extensive qualitative and quantitative data (more than 2,400 survey respondents, 230 qualitative interviews and 130 focus groups). We hope these will contribute to move the community of information, public health, humanitarian aid and government practitioners towards a more sophisticated understanding of what drives and solidifies trust and away from the all too frequent dismissive judgements that played a central role in the breakdown of trust." (Introduction, page 2)
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"This report has documented the surveillance measures and practices in Kenya and Uganda during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The key trends include poor oversight over COVID-19 data collection, the lack of independent data protection authorities, the use of telecommunications data to ‘t
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rack and trace’ individuals, the surveillance of public spaces using CCTV and biometric technologies, the possession of broad search powers by medical and public health officers, and a lack of transparency and accountability by state and nonstate actors. Also, the coronavirus apps deployed in both countries presented new challenges including their limited impact and effectiveness, non-compliance of the apps with privacy standards, their inadequate privacy policies, and a lack of transparency in partnerships. While international human rights law and the constitutions in both countries guarantee the protection of the rights to privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression and information, these were not complied with during the pandemic period. The result is an overall expansion of the surveillance environment in Kenya and Uganda, leading to interference with, and infringements and violations of these rights, a situation which is worrying if left unchanged." (Conclusion, page 20)
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"Since its adoption on 1 July 2020, the Protection of Personal Information Act has bolstered freedom of expression and the right to privacy. This legislation aims to protect citizens’ personal information and balance the right to privacy with other rights, such as access to information. In Februar
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y 2021, the Constitutional Court upheld the 2019 High Court decision that declared certain sections of the Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act unconstitutional as they violate the right to privacy. The Act had allowed for surveillance and the interception of communication. These positive developments were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected freedom of expression and the operating environment of the media and journalists. As in other countries, journalism was considered an essential service in South Africa, which meant that with permission, journalists could continue reporting and were exempt from restrictions that kept most of the population in lockdown. Despite this, journalists found it difficult to access information, making first-hand news-gathering difficult. The Disaster Management Act of 2002 was also applied to manage the lockdowns. Under this Act, essential workers (including journalists) were required to have permits to travel to cover stories. In addition, the government’s attempts to prevent the spread of misinformation related to COVID-19 affected the free flow of information, as information became centralised within the Covid Command Centre. This had a chilling effect on freedom of expression and media freedom in South Africa. Journalists also faced further challenges regarding access to personal protective equipment and training on reporting safely during a pandemic. COVID-19 also affected the sustainability and viability of the media. Both the structure of newsrooms and business models were disrupted. The pandemic accelerated the pre-existing and long-term structural decline in print media, resulting in a devastating impact on the already fragile operations, with significant decreases in both circulation and advertising [...]" (Summary, page 5)
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"The collection of stories presented here aims to highlight the impact of the MDP's (Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists) MDP’s actions over the course of this challenging year. Through testimonies from beneficiaries and partners who aspire to improve freedom o
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f expression and access to information locally, you will learn about the MDP’s multifaceted emergency response to the COVID-19 crisis. Through capacity building, the MDP supported journalists in several countries to learn how to protect their physical and mental health while reporting on the pandemic. This emergency response also involved ensuring local communities’ access to reliable information through support to community media, bolstering citizens’ resilience to the disinfodemic through Media and Information Literacy programmes, as well as journalism education through a global MOOC on debunking disinformation and reporting on the health crisis in a factual, scientific manner." (Editorial, page 2)
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"[...] governments have put up barriers to activities like reporting and sharing opinions and used the pandemic as a pretext to muzzle critical voices. Amnesty International is concerned that Covid-19 related restrictions are not just temporary measures but are part of an ongoing onslaught on human
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rights and civic space. In addition, misinformation on different aspects of the pandemic has contributed to behaviours such as vaccine hesitancy. The overabundance of false and misleading information, facilitated by social media platforms, makes it harder than ever for individuals to form a fully informed opinion and make choices about their health based on the best available scientific facts. The report ends with a list of recommendations, urging States to stop using the pandemic as an excuse to silence independent reporting, debate and scrutiny and urgently lift all undue restrictions as a key approach to protecting the right to health and enabling an inclusive recovery. States should also provide credible, reliable, accessible, objective and evidence-based information, enable independent, public interest journalism and independent civil society, and engage diverse communities. Amnesty International urges social media companies to also take measures to address the viral spread of misinformation, including by improving the transparency and oversight of their business practices, policies and procedures." (Back cover)
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"¿Qué papel tuvieron las radios comunitarias durante la pandemia? Los autores de esta publicación analizan el contexto y los desafíos de la comunicación popular en Ecuador. La infodemia, la proliferación de noticias falsas, las dificultades de los medios de comunicación tradicionales en llega
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r con información clave en la prevención de la enfermedad reactivó la importancia de las radios comunitarias. A través de ellas, en los lugares más apartados, sobre todo en la ruralidad, la población se enteró de las medidas de prevención, de las convocatorias para las pruebas de detección del virus e incluso de los decesos ocurridos a causa del Covid-19 en sus territorios. Así mismo, la radio ha tenido una importancia fundamental en la modalidad virtual de educación durante el confinamiento." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"Exogenous shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic unleashes multiple fundamental questions about society beyond public health. Based on the classical concept of ‘need for orientation’ and the literature on the role of the media in times of crisis, we investigate to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic a
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ffected news consumption in comparative perspective. Based on a two-wave panel survey in 17 mostly European countries, our study targets the role of both legacy news brands (TV, radio, newspapers) and so-called contemporary news media (Internet-based and social media) during this global health crisis. Our results show an overall rise of news use across countries, but only for some types of news media. We find an increase of TV news consumption, and a higher reliance on social media and the Internet for news and information. This indicates that in times of crises and an unusually strong need for orientation, people mainly turn to news sources that are easily available and offer a more immediate coverage. Furthermore, we find the rise in news use to be mainly present among those who already have a higher level of trust in legacy media and among people that were more concerned about the impact of the pandemic." (Abstract)
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"La pandemia del Covid 19 generó notables cambios en los hábitos de consumo de las personas y su interacción con los medios. Como consecuencia del aislamiento social, las personas buscaron fuentes de información y entretenimiento confiables y de fácil acceso, por lo que la radio incrementó su
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audiencia, demostrando su alcance y adaptabilidad a múltiples situaciones, incluyendo la crisis social [...] El alcance de la radio es homogéneo en las distintas zonas del país. En Lima Metropolitana el alcance semanal es de 92.8%, mientras que en el interior del Perú es de 94.3%. Las diversas emisoras y los distintos formatos de programación, permiten que el medio consolide su alcance en las distintas generaciones, destacando que la radio tiene muchos oyentes jóvenes evidenciado en un alcance semanal superior al 91% en todas las generaciones." (Página 2-3)
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"This year's report reveals new insights about digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of over 92,000 online news consumers in 46 markets including India, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Colombia and Peru for the first time. The report looks at the impact of coronavirus on news consumption a
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nd on the economic prospects for publishers. It looks at progress on new paid online business models, trust and misinformation, local news, impartiality and fairness in news coverage." (Overview)
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"55 alumni of training programmes run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) shared their experiences about living – and working – in the COVID era. These insights, coupled with extensive desk research and analysis, inform the narrative of this new report [...] COVID-19 has had a twin impact on
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journalism: not only has it presented a unique set of challenges for journalists, but it has also accentuated and accelerated several major structural issues that predate the pandemic. These issues include encroachments on press freedom, the news industry’s faltering business model, the erosion of trust in journalism and combating fake news. Laws banning ‘fake news’ can be used as instruments to support government crackdowns on media freedom and on reporting with which political elites disagree. The pandemic has offered a justification for more countries to introduce these types of laws, tighten current restrictions or suspend existing laws. Even if these developments are rolled back, journalism and the news industry is unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic state. Many of the jobs and outlets that have been lost will never reappear, and those that do may look very different to the way they were." (Executive summary)
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"As members of the media, TV news workers were considered essential employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many employees went into the field to cover stories related to the pandemic, which included anti-mask and lock-down protests. This mixed-methods study explored the extent to which TV news work
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ers perceived organizational support from their news organizations during the crisis. Findings of a national survey of TV news employees (N = 173) show market size (larger), membership in professional organizations, access to counseling services, and resources on best practices of covering COVID-19 correlated with positive perceptions of employers during the pandemic. In turn, these positive perceptions, as well as manageable job demands and high decision authority each correlated with overall job satisfaction. Qualitative findings further illustrated the varying steps TV news managers took to support and protect their employees’ health and safety during the crisis." (Abstract)
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"Die Coronavirus-Pandemie hat sich in weiten Teilen der Welt negativ auf die Meinungs- und Medienfreiheit ausgewirkt. Betroffen sind viele Partnerländer der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit: Menschen können nicht auf relevante Informationen zugreifen, unter anderem, weil sie keinen adäquaten
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Internetzugang haben. Gesellschaften mangelt es an Orientierung, da sie von einer Flut an falschen Nachrichten überschwemmt werden. Journalistinnen und Journalisten können ihre Arbeit nur unzureichend erledigen, etwa aufgrund wirtschaftlicher Schwierigkeiten der Medienhäuser. Bürgerinnen und Bürger sind von maßgeblichen Daten und Fakten zur Pandemie abgeschnitten – insbesondere, weil Regierungen Nachrichten zensieren und unabhängige Berichterstattung unterbinden. Dabei greifen staatliche Stellen vermehrt auf repressive Maßnahmen zurück: sowohl gegenüber Journalistinnen und Journalisten als auch gegenüber der Bevölkerung insgesamt. Die Pandemie hat zudem bereits bestehende strukturelle Schwächen moderner Informations-Ökosysteme offengelegt. Diese Trends erschweren es, die vielschichtigen Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Menschen fehlt es an Information, auf deren Grundlage sie risikobewusst handeln können. Einzelne Bevölkerungsgruppen drohen weiter abgehängt zu werden, weil sie ihre Anliegen nicht wirksam zum Ausdruck bringen können. Gesellschaften können sich nicht umfassend über Wege aus der Krise verständigen. Um entwicklungspolitische Ziele erreichen zu können, braucht es intakte Informations-Ökosysteme: mit allgemeinem Zugang, professionellen Qualitätsfiltern, unabhängigen Medienunternehmen und freiheitlichen Rahmenbedingungen." (Zusammenfassung)
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