. Quentin Warlop
Obstructions and intimidation. Journalists threatened, sometimes arrested and muzzled media. Wage reductions, loss of income, bonuses or layoffs. On this International Press Freedom Day, the facts are clear: the Covid-19 pandemic is also affecting the press around the world. Journalists are certainly less exposed than nurses and doctors can be, but they are also affected by a marked deterioration in their working conditions.
Major investigation for more than 1,300 journalists
Interviewed during the Covid-19 crisis, 1,308 journalists from 77 countries responded to a new survey by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s leading organization for the profession. And its conclusions are rather disturbing.
According to the new survey, 75% of respondents have experienced job restrictions or been confronted with obstruction and intimidation while reporting on the Covid-19. Two-thirds of salaried and freelance journalists have also been victims of wage cuts, loss of income or bonuses, layoffs and have seen a deterioration in their working conditions.
The survey also found that following the Covid-19 pandemic, more than half of journalists are suffering from stress and anxiety. More than a quarter of them do not have the essential equipment to work safely from their home, while one in four does not have protective equipment to work in the field. Finally, dozens of journalists have been arrested, prosecuted or attacked.
Precariousness of journalists
When asked about the state of press freedom in their country, the vast majority of journalists said the situation had worsened with the crisis. Likewise, a large number deplored the consequences of the pandemic on the quality of the work of journalists: job losses, reduction in overtime and means are all obstacles to adequate coverage of the pandemic.
In many countries, the lack of social protection and decent working conditions also discourages these professionals. A Greek journalist who prefers to remain anonymous testifies: ” I work more, but I earn less money and the owner of the newspaper for which I work owes me and my colleague more than seven months’ salary. And the government does not respond. ”
Difficulty accessing information
Many journalists have also complained about the increasing attacks on media freedom. Nearly one in four journalists said they had had difficulty accessing information from government or official sources. Many have reported being verbally attacked by politicians.
Others complained about restrictions imposed at press conferences or traffic difficulties during the crisis, despite their press card. Some have pointed out that the importance given to subjects related to Covid-19 has led to the ignoring of other equally important questions. This is the case, in particular, in Brazil. For this Brazilian journalist: “The federal government despises journalists. It attacks the press every day about the information it publishes, discredits and humiliates us”.
IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger: ” The results of this new IFJ global survey show once again that press freedom is on the wane everywhere, that journalism is undergoing dangerous hard cuts just as the “Access to information and quality journalism is crucial. Journalism is a public good, it deserves the support of the citizen and all obstruction and political interference must be ended .”
Turkey and journalists
If there is one country that is regularly picked up for the treatment of journalists, it is Turkey. Some journalists have been imprisoned for months, even years. But according to Amnesty International: ” the already dramatic situation – this country is one of the largest” imprisoners “of journalists in the world – has worsened further with the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists being targeted under the cover of the fight against disinformation ” .
And Amnesty International cites a few recent examples: ” Former Halk TV editor Hakan Aygün was placed in pre-trial detention on April 4 because of his Facebook and Twitter posts criticizing President Erdoğan for reporting account number for donations to help fight the pandemic . ”
Aygün is not the only journalist to have been worried: ” The presenter of Fox TV, Fatih Portakal, is under investigation for” insulting the President “and for” deliberate damage to the reputation “of the banks for a tweet in which he compared the call for help from COVID to additional taxes collected during the Revolutionary War at the end of the First World War, “said the non-governmental organization, which added that on March 18:”the editor-in-chief of SES Kocaeli was arrested following the publication of an article concerning the death of two people from COVID-19 in a local hospital. The newspaper’s director was summoned by the authorities the next day. Both were questioned about their sources at the hospital and both were pressured to stop reporting on the issue . ”
On April 13, a new law allowing the early and conditional release of up to 90,000 prisoners was presented to Parliament. These new measures have not resulted in the release of several categories of prisoners, including those convicted under overly broad anti-terrorism laws or crimes against the state, which means that many imprisoned journalists will not be released.
Censorship and closed media
The UN denounces the repression of information and the media since the start of the current crisis. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has criticized countries taking advantage of the health crisis to arrest journalists and muzzle independent media.
” Credible, reliable information is a lifeline for all of us ,” she said, citing the International Press Institute (IPI) as saying that 130 cases of press rights violations have been identified in the world since the onset of the epidemic in China in late 2019. These include censorship measures, limiting access to information and legal measures against disinformation deemed excessive.
Nearly 40 journalists have been arrested or prosecuted for questioning the management of the pandemic by their countries or the official toll of the number of cases and deaths, journalists have disappeared and the media have been closed. In addition, the High Commission regrets that the statements of certain leaders ” have fostered a hostile context ” towards journalists, endangering their safety and degrading their working conditions. With in its sights, Donald Trump, the President of the United States.
