A global decline in press freedom worldwide

[Shishirgano9]

When it comes to violations of the right to inform, no continent has been spared during the Covid-19 crisis. Since the start of the pandemic, RSF has recorded abuses in 90 of the 193 member states of the United Nations. Attacks on journalists and independent media take various forms, and even arise in countries that are considered democratic. This development has been highlighted by many press freedom organizations around the world (US Press Freedom Tracker, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), etc.)



Recently, and according to data collected by indonesia cell phone number list RSF (June 2020) and its monitoring tool the Observatory 19 , 47% of UN member countries have not respected the right to information . 32 African countries are concerned, 27 in the Asia-Pacific and Central Asia region. Among the 10 countries counted on the American continent, 9 of them are located in Central or Latin America. Only five countries have been counted to date in the Middle East, but in this region, Iran has accumulated the highest number of violations. 28 independent journalists have already been summoned by the authorities, indicted or arrested since the start of the pandemic.

However, democracies are not left behind when it comes to press freedom violations. within the European Union and the Balkan region, 14 countries have been singled out. In Germany and the United Kingdom (respectively ranked 11th and 35th out of 180 in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index established by RSF), incidents have been recorded, including the attack on journalists during German demonstrations and the aggressive attitude of the British government following the publication of certain articles dealing with the pandemic.