PRESS FREEDOM PREDATORS
MUST BE CHALLENGED
Covid-19 crisis is being used to erode press freedom around the world BY ROY GREENSLADE With thousands dying around the globe and many thousands more suffering from the deleterious effects of coronavirus, it may seem as though press freedom is a relatively minor matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason for the contagion’s rapid and uncontrolled spread is itself a manifestation of the lack of press freedom in the country where it began. The Chinese Communist Party attempted to keep Covid-19 a secret and thereby denied the rest of the world the chance to prepare its defences weeks ahead of the news about the Wuhan outbreak finally breaking. In its bid to suppress the truth, the party’s police force arrested Li Wenliang, the doctor who warned his colleagues of the contagion, and infamously accused him of “spreading false rumours.” Keep that malevolent, trumped-up, catchall offence in mind because it has since proved to be the template for authoritarian governments across the world. Consider also the insidious effect of the President of the USA, who has turned reality on its head by labelling the truth as “fake news.” Together, America’s Donald Trump, in the land of the free, and China’s Xi Jinping, in the land of the unfree, have become the world’s most powerful press freedom predators. They have provided a repressive blueprint for political leaders elsewhere, be they dictators, the nervous holders of office in fragile, developing democracies or even the ruling elites in settled democracies. As a result, journalists seeking to tell the truth have been persecuted. They have been threatened, intimidated, arrested and beaten up. Newspapers have been banned. Websites have been blocked. Censorship has been granted a spurious legitimacy. By using Covid-19 as a cover, governments have instituted a range of actions which reveal their underlying hostility towards the exercise of press freedom. Lest you think I exaggerate, what follows is but a snapshot of dishonourable actions against journalists and their outlets. At first glance, some incidents appear to be relatively minor 12
clashes between individual reporters and members of the security forces and police. Together, however, they reveal an anti-press freedom paradigm which has seen journalists subject to highhanded treatment along with instances of almost casual brutality. These reinforce a disturbing trend of increasing antagonism towards those who work for mainstream media. In too many countries, the authorities now feel confident they can abuse journalists, even to the extent of denying them the right to life, because those who attack them enjoy the shield of impunity. Let’s begin with Russia – serial killer of journalists – and its former satellite states. When Covid-19 arrived Vladimir Putin’s administration was quick to enact legislation which sought to prevent journalistic inquiries. A new law prohibits the spreading of supposed “false information” with punishments ranging from fiveyear prison terms to £20,000 fines. Media outlets found guilty of disseminating disinformation face fines up to £100,000. On 15 April, Russia’s media control agency, Roskomnadzor, ordered the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta to delete an article by investigative journalist Elena Milashina because she criticised the lack of preparedness for coronavirus at hospitals in the autonomous republic of Chechnya. During a visit to the capital, Grozny, in February Milashina was assaulted in a hotel lobby by a group of about 15 people. The attack, in which she suffered soft tissue injuries to her head, bruises and scratches to her shoulders and neck, was reported to the authorities but not investigated. In Azerbaijan, freelancer Natig Izbatov was arrested by security forces for reporting on the challenges faced by people during the Covid-19 quarantine. Two journalists, Ibrahim Vazirov and Mirsahib Rahiloghlu, were detained for similar reporting and placed under “administrative arrest” for 25 and 20 days respectively. In Moldova, the health ministry refused to answer journalistic questions and arbitrarily lengthened the amount of time for formal responses to freedom of information requests from 30 days to 90. In Serbia, journalists were banned from attending daily Covid-19 press briefings by the Health Minister on the disputed grounds of the virus having entered “some newsrooms.” An ISSUE NUMBER 2 – 2020 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 2 anphoblacht
