2024-01-07 06:41:55
It is time for balances, like every year. The situation of journalists and the media during 2023 in much of the world is very dramatic, tragic in some cases, and allows us to feel satisfied with what is happening with this profession in Argentina.
I will start with a figure that defines the security conditions in which the media and journalists operate in this country. The number is zero: there were no cases of prison for those who practice this profession in 2,000 cases and, although certain attacks by sectors of power cannot be ignored, there has been considerable freedom of expression.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a non-governmental organization that defends independent journalistic work around the world, published last Sunday an assessment of what was recorded in different regions in relation to journalistic work and the punitive actions taken by governments against dissident journalists.
China leads the dark ranking of journalists deprived of liberty last year: of 779 in prison around the world, China keeps 121 behind bars. The second place is Burma, with 84 imprisoned throughout 2023 and 69 currently imprisoned .
In Belarus, the authorities detained 55 journalists during the year, and 39 of them remain behind bars. Three women journalists have been sentenced to between 10 and 12 years in prison by Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime: Maryna Zolatava, Liudmila Chekina and Valeriya Kastsiuhova.
In Russia, the freedom of journalists is at permanent risk since the invasion of Ukraine: RSF highlights the “hostile climate towards independent media” with 34 journalists imprisoned in the last 12 months, and with 29 remaining in prison. Among these are two Americans: Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, and Alsou Kurmasheva, of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (who also has Russian nationality), who is accused of being a “foreign agent.”
The dramatic situation in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli border territory after the brutal terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 also affects journalists. RSF notes that there are at least 34 Palestinian journalists detained, mostly without formal charge, particularly in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip it is worse: at least 76 journalists died in Israel’s attacks. 16 of them were carrying out job duties.
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 68 percent of journalists killed worldwide were due to the Gaza conflict.
The RSF report states that twelve journalists were murdered in the Asia-Pacific region: three in India, two in Afghanistan, two in the Philippines, two in Bangladesh, two in Pakistan and one in China. In North and South America, the fatal toll amounted to ten professionals: three Mexicans, one Paraguayan, three Guatemalans, one Colombian, one Honduran and one American.
In Africa, the IFJ counted eight murders of journalists: in Cameroon (two), Sudan (one), Lesotho (one), Mali (one), Somalia (one), Mozambique (one) and Nigeria (one) “that have not been fully investigated to date.”
Finally, three journalists were killed in 2023 in Europe: a Frenchman, a Ukrainian and a Russian in the Ukrainian War, to which a fourth Albanian media professional was added.
In a statement, the IFJ called on world governments to “rapidly adopt a binding international convention to protect the safety and independence of journalists.
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