Populist Playbook: Bash News Media Early And Often - July 9, 2018
A government investigations agency looking into corruption conducted searches without warrants and compiled files classified secret. An oversight committee requested details and were given redacted files or none at all. The head of the government department to which the agency reports went on television and said it was no big deal, blamed news outlets as fake news and suggested investigating journalists.

News Media Suffers Another Grievance - June 29, 2018
Civility is the cornerstone of democracy, not grievance. We build monuments to civil society, not despots. Truth and light, we believe, overcome hate and fear. Today, we have no words. Again.

Publishers Furious, Suspicious As Police Grill Reporter - May 18, 2018
After a prominent investigative reporter agreed to meet with police officers looking into the murder of another investigative reporter, the meeting turned into an eight-hour interrogation. The police demanded a mobile phone with SIM card, under pressure of judicial consequence. They also wanted source information unrelated to the murder investigation.

A Free Press Is The Heartbeat Of A Country - April 26, 2018
Press and media freedom are not abstractions. The gains are genuine for leaders, institutions and the public informed directly. The loss is destructive; confidence shed, reality twisted. And, too, people die.

Charm Offensive Stumbles Badly With Attack On TV News Outlet - December 13, 2017
The descent of Poland’s current government into autocracy has been widely chronicled. In a bit more than two years the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has waged a relentless campaign mixing nationalism and populism with conservative theocracy and conspiracy theories. A main target has been the country’s media sector and those who work within it.

Dictators Firm In Commitment To End Media Freedom - September 5, 2017
Every crisis is an opportunity for the world’s authoritarian rulers. Removing critical voices enhances their positions, they believe. Jailing reporters and editors is easy, like chasing away media support organizations. The real bonus for dictators is closing publishers and broadcasters.

Dictators Celebrate, Autocrats Preen, Press Freedom Falls - May 1, 2017
Illustrating the precipice upon which media freedom across the world sits, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) warned of an approaching “tipping point” in its recently released annual World Press Freedom Index . The accompanying report is gloomy, “an ever darker world.” Societies adhering to a free-flow of truthful information, once-hopeful, have been plunged into dystopia by dictators, autocrats and thugs. Later the same week US-based NGO Freedom House released its annual World Freedom of the Press 2017 report. The reports are strikingly similar: the dark side is winning.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Press/Media Freedom - Challenges and Concerns

Press and media freedom worldwide is facing challenges from many corners. As authoritarian leaders impose strict control over traditional and new media with impunity, media watchers have concerns for democracy. This ftm Knowledge file accounts the troubles of this difficult decade. 88 pages. PDF (December 2011)

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