Interview, Fireside Chat, Panel, Conference Presentation
Press freedom: why you should be worried
The EconomistDaphne Galizia, Avantika Chalkoti, Rana Ayyub, Rebecca Vincent, Matthew, Corinne, Veronika Munk, Sebald Stuhl
- Global press freedom is eroding in both authoritarian states and established democracies, with governments employing increasingly subtle tactics to muzzle independent media.
- In 2021, 21 journalists were murdered worldwide, with nearly 40% of these killings occurring in democracies.
- India, the world's largest democracy, has fallen eight places in a single year to rank 150th out of 180 countries on the Global Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
- Award-winning journalist Rana Ayyub faces four active legal cases from Indian authorities, including the Uttar Pradesh police and the Enforcement Directorate, which she attributes to her critical reporting on Hindu nationalism and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
- Ayyub's bank accounts were frozen by the government following intensified online harassment, including rape threats, doxxing, and the circulation of morphed pornography.
- The European Commission proposed a new directive in April 2022 to allow journalists and activists to appeal to courts to dismiss Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), which are used to harass, intimidate, and silence critics.
- SLAPPs are increasingly prevalent in Europe; for instance, a single Polish newspaper received nearly 60 lawsuits, many filed by ruling party politicians, often with no intent to achieve legal justice.
- In Malta, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in 2017 after facing 47 libel suits, five of which were criminal; her family subsequently inherited these lawsuits, which were designed to harass and exhaust her.
- Hungary has seen a steep decline in press freedom under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose government utilizes financial bullying by withholding advertising revenue from independent outlets to drive them into bankruptcy.
- In Hungary, nearly 80% of the media landscape is now owned by allies of the Orbán government, a situation that led to the sacking of the editor-in-chief at Index in 2022.
- Following the purge at Index, over 70 journalists resigned and established a new independent newsroom called Telex, which raised €1 million from readers in its first month to bypass government-controlled advertising markets.
- Telex now reaches approximately 600,000 daily readers, relying almost entirely on reader funding rather than advertising to maintain editorial independence.
- While critical journalists in Hungary face restricted access to press conferences and government information, experts note that reporters continue to find ways to operate around physical and digital obstacles.
- Experts warn that self-censorship driven by financial and reputational risks remains one of the most significant global challenges to free expression, as many journalists lack the resources to fight prolonged legal battles.