World Press Freedom Day Webinar with Marius Dragomir
As part of the global celebration of World Press Freedom Day 2020, UNESCO is organizing a webinar to discuss editorial independence and media capture in times of COVID-19 and beyond.
The webinar will feature a discussion of the forthcoming UNESCO study ‘Reporting Facts: Free from Fear or Favor’. The study’s author, Marius Dragomir, Director of the Center for Media, Data and Society, will be joined by prominent journalists and civil society representatives, Ferial Haffajee, (Daily Maverick), Ritu Kapur (The Quint) and Ana Cristina Ruelas Serna (ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America).
The animated discussion will center around the importance of press freedom and the threats to editorial independence in times of crisis.
The experts will present observations of trends from around the world and personal testimonies, identifying both the enormous challenges that independent media face, and the potential of actors from across government, international organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector, academics and media to push back.
The webinar will be held on Tuesday, May 5 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. CET via Zoom. To register, please send an email to wpfd@unesco.org with your full name and the name of your organization using the subject 'Media Independence in Times of Crises'. Registration closes on 5 May at 11 a.m
THE STUDY
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the importance of free and independent media in reporting verified information to the public and in holding public authorities to account.
Yet, as the preview of the study assesses, in recent years the news media have faced increased challenges to editorial independence. This is especially through ‘media capture’ in which media are skewed by private and state groups that abuse systems of regulation, ownership, advertising and finance.
The resulting damage to the integrity of editorial independence has compromised the ability of many media workers to provide the public with vital information.
The culmination of these and other controls means that journalists seeking to follow professional standards have to stave off pressures and attacks from external actors as well navigate power in their own outlets
The full study will be published later this year as an In Focus edition of UNESCO's series World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development.