New lows for press freedom, but the fight goes on
86% of the world’s population lives in countries without free media, according to new statistics published in connection with World Press Freedom Day on 3 May
2014 was another bad year for press freedom worldwide. Press freedom levels are at their lowest in 10 years. Never before has free, independent journalism been under as much pressure as it is today. Only one out of seven people live in a country with complete press freedom, according to figures from the organisation Freedom House.
“The decline in press freedom that we are witnessing across the world, can no longer be described as just a trend,” says Jesper Højberg, Director of International Media Support.
“The media’s inability to report freely and independently is the new reality we have to deal with, partly brought on by laws restricting media freedom in a number of countries and the targeting of journalists in certain countries. Over the last five years, we have seen governments in several countries that were previously on the road to democratic development, push back against democratic principles. The first casualty on this road is the free and independent media.”
The shrinking space for freedom of the press from 2013 to 2014 has been most notable in Eurasia where restrictive laws limiting press freedom and attacks on journalists and activists characterised the media environment. Despite all expectations, the region’s success story this year is Ukraine, which went from “not free” to “partly free” in the press freedom index.
“Ukraine’s media is undergoing a dynamic process which tends to be lost in translation with the overwhelming focus of the outside world on Russian propaganda. Throughout the last year, media reforms have taken place and we gained a public service broadcaster for the first time in 17 years since the country’s independence,” says Antonina Cherevko, programme manager of IMS’ work in Ukraine.
In the lead-up to World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, International Media Support asked people around the world, including freedom of expression frontrunners such as Aung San Suu Kyi what freedom of expression meant to them in their daily lives. The more than 100 contributions from people in 21 countries on social media using the hashtag #MyFreeExpression shows just how important and global the right to freedom of speech is to people globally.
Check out the many contributions here or send us your thoughts using #MyFreeExpression on Facebook or Twitter.
