IPI, Amnesty Cite Press Freedom Crackdown During COVID-19 Pandemic

Joining a chorus of other press freedom and journalists’ rights groups, the International Press Institute (IPI) and Amnesty International said some governments are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a ruse to expand powers and keep the media from reporting wrongdoing and equipment shortages.

The report from the Vienna-based IPI was timed to coincide with World Press Freedom Day that saw the United Kingdom – where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange still faces the risk of being extradited to the United States to face espionage charges – say that journalists should be protected.

The IPI said that in both democratic and autocratic states the “public health crisis has allowed governments to exercise control over the media on the pretext of preventing the spread of disinformation,” reported the Associated Press.

Striking example is Hungary, where Premier Viktor Orban was given the right to rule by decree without time limit. Orban had cited trying to rein in COVID-19 as a reason for expanding powers, even though critics said that could lead him to further clamp down on the press.

The European Union, instead of sanctioning Hungary’s Premier, instead said he didn’t break any bloc laws by effectively consolidating power and moving away from a democracy.

The IPI said authoritarian governments have been abusing emergency measures to “further stifle independent media and criminalize journalism,” while in democracies “efforts to control the public narrative and restrict access to information around the pandemic are on the rise.”

The organization said it documented 162 press freedom violations related to coronavirus coverage over the past 2 1/2 half months, almost a third of which have involved the arrest, detention or charging of journalists.

That report came just after the International Federation of Journalists published a survey that found that the working conditions of news reporters around the globe have deteriorated during the pandemic. Negative implications include job losses and growing attacks on media freedom.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1993; since then, critics claim, the body has done little to protect journalists or media groups.

At the same time, UN Secretary-General said that the COVID-19 crisis showed the importance of a free press.
“As the pandemic spreads, it has also given rise to a second pandemic of misinformation, from harmful health advice to wild conspiracy theories,” he said. “The press provides the antidote: verified, scientific, fact-based news and analysis.”

Amnesty International’s Director of Law and Policy, Ashfaq Khalfan, said: “There is no hope of containing this virus if people can’t access accurate information. It is truly alarming to see how many governments are more interested in protecting their own reputations than in saving lives.”