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piqer for: Globalization and politics Climate and Environment Technology and society Boom and bust
Cristina is a Spanish journalist based in London, she holds master’s degree in Journalism, Media and Globalisation at City University London and Aarhus University (Denmark). She has a keen interest in sustainable development and human rights and she curates -mostly- stories related to the Sustainable Development Goals. She has previous worked for United Nations and now collaborates with various publications such as El País, Chatham House, Huffington Post, Equal Times or eldiario.es.
Happy World Press Freedom Day (Although There Is Not Much To Be Celebrated)
The 2017 edition of the Press Freedom Index paints a dark picture. In fact, the darkest since 2004. According to the annual index:
"Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 amid unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their borders."
This interactive map shows 199 countries ranking from from 0 to 100, with 0 being the most free and 10 the least free. It is based on the political, legal and economic environment. As seen every year, Nordic countries are at the top of the list, and North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea monopolise the three last positions. But which countries have suffered the largest declines? Poland, Turkey, Burundi, Hungary, Bolivia, Serbia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are also significant crackdowns on independent media in Russia and China.
It is also important to highlight that there have been slight declines in robust democracies such as the US. As the article underlines, it is still too early to determine the impact that a president who is openly running war with the media (“They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth”) has had. However, polarisation of media outlets and partisanism are certainly reducing public trust.
In terms of the level of risk for journalists, the situation is not favorable either. In 2016, 259 journalists were jailed worldwide.
Amid threats, smear campaigns and precariousness, independent journalism is more important than ever. Let's not forget George Orwell's words: "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations.”
