Pandemic is being used by governments around the world to increase restrictions on press freedoms

By Dilip -
An international media rights group says the coronavirus pandemic is being used by governments around the world to increase restrictions on press freedoms, AP reports. In a report issued to coincide with World Press Freedom Day 2020, the International Press Institute concluded that in both democratic and autocratic states the public health crisis has allowed governments to exercise control over the media on the pretext of preventing the spread of disinformation.

It said authoritarian governments have been abusing emergency measures to further stifle independent media and criminalise journalism, while in democracies efforts to control the public narrative and restrict access to information around the pandemic are on the rise.

The Vienna-based organisation said it has documented 162 press freedom violations related to coronavirus coverage over the past two and a half months, almost a third of which have involved the arrest, detention or charging of journalists.

The institute’s report came three days after the International Federation of Journalists published a survey that found that the working conditions of news reporters around the globe have deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic amid job losses and attacks on media freedom. Earlier, Egypt was singled out by Amnesty International for its treatment of journalists over the last four years.....
https://ipi.media/wpfd-2020-covid-19-accelerating-a-global-decline-in-media-freedom/

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