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I'd go direct to the source for this one. Kinda helps explain more of the reasoning about it. https://rsf.org/en/ranking https://rsf.org/en/ranking At Securit
by secfirstmd 6y ago
I'd go direct to the source for this one. Kinda helps explain more of the reasoning about it.
https://rsf.org/en/ranking https://rsf.org/en/ranking
At Security First (https://www.secfirst.org https://www.secfirst.org), we build an open source mobile app for journalists and activists to learn about digital and physical security topics ranging from phishing to kidnap. We also do training for journalists and activists all over the world. At present we suspect that 2021 is trending towards being one of the worst years on record unfortunately. Myanmar for example has proven to be a disaster.
For those looking at such things. It's always worth considering the wider civil society also.
For example,
Attacks on human rights defenders:
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/ https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/
Attacks on aid workers:
https://aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report https://aidworkersecurity.org/incidents/report
Attacks on environmental Defenders:
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/ https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-act...
Often for example we may be doing an analysis of risk in a country and while there may not be currently some on journalists, there may be some on human rights defenders so that may frame how we view things. Let's say we know NSO Group is used in the country against activists or that local intelligence puts civil society members under physical surveillance.
Of course risks tend to be quite different. For example journalists more likely to be arrested or intimidated, aid workers more likely to be kidnapped etc.
There is also a lot of under reporting. This is because of the nature of each sort of position. For example environmental defenders tend to be more local, say someone defending their land in the Amazon, compared to a journalist. So those attacks are often harder to record.
Also, people sometimes may wear multiple hats. So an LGBTIQ+ activist in Russia might also be a blogger. It might be difficult to figure out exactly why some threat to their safety occured.
- iso1210 6y agoYou expect China and Myanmar to attack journalists, but we've seen journalists arrested live on TV in the USA [0], we've seen police attacking journalists in the UK [1], and we've seen attacks on journalists encouraged by so called "leaders of the free world" [2][3] It feels to me that things have massively regressed in the last 10 years ago and we're in a far more dangerous world [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52854980 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52854980 [1] https://twitter.com/MatthewDresch/status/1375606889740898305?s=20 https://twitter.com/MatthewDresch/status/1375606889740898305... [2] https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/16/report-trumps-attacks-press-dangerously-undermined-truth/5150134002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/16/repor... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/23/vilifying-journalists-government-jacob-rees-mogg-huffpost https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/23/vilify...
- secfirstmd 6y agoYes very true. Also press freedom in a lot of states includes stuff like media ownership and local law. I know for example Ireland was ranking quite low considering it's pretty safe for journalists physically but libel law and media ownership are problems here.
- refurb 6y agoMaybe it’s just me, but I’ve also lost a lot of respect for the press over the past few years. Their desire for clicks are taking precedent over objectivity. That said, the press shouldn’t be restricted just because they do a bad job.
- throwaway894345 6y agoIn fairness to the US, there were many more encounters between police and the press during tense situations than there have been in prior years. I doubt we’ve regressed much, but rather police probably aren’t thoroughly trained for dealing with the press under those circumstances (nor likely were they previously) and they had far more encounters with journalists while working long hours at anti-police protests. That alone would explain an uptick in conflicts with the press. Also, kindly note that I’m not expressing support for police or suggesting journalists “had it coming”—only pointing out that there might be a better explanation for the uptick in conflicts besides a rise in authoritarianism.