FEATURE: World Press Freedom Day celebrated
According to Reporters Without Borders’ 2021 World Press Freedom Index, journalism is “totally blocked or seriously impeded” in 73 countries and “constrained” in 59 others.
CAPE TOWN, May 3 (ANA) – May 3 is set aside each year by the United Nations General Assembly as World Press Freedom Day.
This day serves as a stark reminder to governments all over the world of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom.
It also serves as a day of reflection among media professionals on matters of press freedom and professional ethics.
World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for a free media, which is often targeted for restraint or even abolition.
On this day, says the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), we also remember those journalists who died in pursuit of a story.
Recently, the organisation Reporters Without Borders published the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, a barometer of the state of media freedom across the globe.
Overall, it was found that there has been a decline in public access to information and an increase in obstacles to news coverage in a number of countries.
The report said that journalism is “totally blocked or seriously impeded” in 73 countries and “constrained” in 59 others.
In this latest report, South Africa ranked 32nd out of 180 countries. The index described the state of media freedom in South Africa as “guaranteed but fragile”.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday in his weekly newsletter that what is worrying is that media freedom has deteriorated under the Covid-19 pandemic, with the various restrictions put in place having seemingly been used to curtail media activity in several places.
This year’s theme for World Press Freedom Day, “Information as a Public Good”, underlines the indisputable importance of verified and reliable information, according to Audrey Azoulay, director-general of Unesco.
They say it calls attention to the essential role of free and professional journalists in producing and disseminating this information, by tackling misinformation and other harmful content.
According to the report, although there was less deterioration in Africa’s “abuses” score, it continues to be the most violent continent for journalists and the Covid-19 pandemic fuelled the use of force to prevent journalists from working.
In Tanzania (124th), President John Magufuli called the coronavirus pandemic a “Western conspiracy”, suggesting that Tanzania had kept it at bay “by force of prayer”. He imposed an information blackout on the pandemic before his death in March 2021.
According to rights organisation Amnesty International, journalists and media houses across east and southern Africa came under increasing attack in the past year, despite the urgent need for access to information during the Covid-19 pandemic and other crises in the region.
The organisation said on Monday that across the region, media workers have been laid off, television stations suspended or shut down, private press targeted and journalists intimidated.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for east and southern Africa, said that national authorities across Africa must stop the roll-back of media freedoms and ensure that media professionals are safe and protected to do their job.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
