{"id":20224,"date":"2021-07-22T10:17:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T10:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open-up.ch\/freedom-of-the-press-under-pressure-what-comes-next\/"},"modified":"2021-07-22T10:23:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T10:23:57","slug":"freedom-of-the-press-under-pressure-what-comes-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open-up.ch\/en\/freedom-of-the-press-under-pressure-what-comes-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of the press under pressure. What comes next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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08.07.2021 |<\/p>

Freedom of the press under pressure. What comes next?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In Belarus an aircraft is forced to land so that a dissenting blogger can be arrested. In the US, representatives of the foreign press were attacked during the storming of the Capitol, and in Hong Kong more and more journalists are again being detained. The freedom of the press is in jeopardy across the world \u2013 and not just in autocratic regimes. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of countries where journalists can exercise their profession without repression saw yet another decline last year. In the annual index produced by Reporters without Borders, the situation in only 12 of the 180 countries surveyed ranked \u201cgood\u201d. Last year Germany lost its status, with the situation now rated only satisfactory. The reason given for this downgrade was a fivefold increase in attacks on media representatives versus 2019.<\/p>\n

Switzerland has a relatively good level of press freedom by international standards, and retains its \u201cgood\u201d rating; nonetheless, it slipped two places compared with the previous year and is now ranked tenth. Despite what is still a good ranking, the issue is increasingly in the spotlight in this country too. In February the SRF correspondent in Minsk was arrested, whereupon the political powers that be in Switzerland felt compelled to intervene with the Belarus ambassador.<\/p>\n

Restricted media freedom weakens democracy
\n<\/strong>Journalists being arrested, attacked or even murdered is the most extreme consequence of a lack of press freedom. In Switzerland they are largely spared repression of this sort. Even so, the debate on the extent of press freedom is also in full swing in this country. The Council of States wants to lower the hurdle for taking legal action against reports in the media as part of an amendment to the Swiss Civil Procedure Code. The amendment is designed to make it easier to obtain superprovisional measures against pending media reports; in other words, a judicial stop to planned publications. After the decision, the CEO of the publishers\u2019 association even spoke of an \u201cattack on press freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

So why is the freedom of the press so important? The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) deems free and independent media to be a cornerstone of democratic societies. The media are often referred to as the fourth estate. In other words, the media serve as an additional, controlling power alongside the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The importance of press freedom for a functioning democracy shouldn\u2019t be underestimated, especially in direct democracies, where the close involvement of the population means the need for information and controls is essential. If press freedom is attacked, it always also puts pressure on the democratic system itself. This is particularly evident in countries that have turned their back on democracy: attacking the media was in most cases the first step in the process.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Society also bears responsibility<\/strong>
In addition to political machinations, the digital age \u2013 and in particular social media \u2013 is confronted by a new threat: fake news, what used to also be known as propaganda. The danger in this is that the wave of false news spreads more quickly than real facts and properly researched stories. In order to curb this development, it\u2019s not only politicians who have a responsibility. As media consumers we all help determine the direction media content goes in. This may mean not blindly trusting free articles from unknown sources on social media, but buying a subscription to a reputable news provider and valuing the work of journalists. It may also mean asking who the source of a piece of information is and whether this source is reliable before forwarding a piece of news.<\/p>

Our industry also has a part to play. PR has a major impact on journalism, and vice versa. Even if this relationship sometimes falls into disrepute, it is an opportunity to take joint responsibility and provide mutual support. This starts with communications consultants also adhering to high standards. Naturally consultants want to help their clients, but when working with journalists it\u2019s also important to stick to the truth and provide relevant content for the medium in question.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Autor
<\/strong>Livio F\u00fcrer is convinced that independent and functioning media, whose journalists can work properly and undisturbed, are essential for a vibrant democracy.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The number of countries where journalists can exercise their profession without repression saw yet another decline last year. In the annual index produced by Reporters without Borders, the situation in only 12 of the 180 countries surveyed ranked \u201cgood\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":19572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFreedom of the press under pressure. What comes next? - open up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number of countries where journalists can exercise their profession without repression saw yet another decline last year. 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