On the 30th World Press Freedom Day, journalists are set to discuss solutions on how to report in countries where press freedoms are eroding.
The number of journalists imprisoned worldwide has reached a 30-year high as of the end of last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
World Press Freedom day on Wednesday coincides with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s fifth week of detention in Russia. Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the CPJ, and Mr. Gershkovich’s editor will hold an “Ask Me Anything” chat on Reddit at noon ET, answering questions about Mr. Gershkovich’s detainment by Russia and freedom of the press worldwide.
Mr. Gershkovich, 31 years old, was detained on March 29 by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, while he was on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg and held on an allegation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.
Russian authorities haven’t publicly provided evidence to support the allegation, and the U.S. government has designated Mr. Gershkovich as wrongfully detained. Mr. Gershkovich was accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the country’s Foreign Ministry at the time of his detention.
An updated World Press Freedom Index released Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders found that journalists are operating in poor environments in seven out of every 10 countries. The international nonprofit reviewed 180 countries and territories.
The U.S. fell three places in the ranking from the previous year, though still has a status of a “satisfactory environment for reporting.” The killings of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German and television reporter Dylan Lyons hurt the U.S. ranking, the report said.
The situation in countries including Tajikistan, India and Turkey fell from “problematic” to “very bad” for newsgathering, the report said. Turkey’s parliament passed a law last year criminalizing the spread of alleged disinformation and forcing social-media platforms such as WhatsApp to hand over users’ personal information.
Reporters Without Borders is scheduled to discuss its updated index during a virtual event with the Washington Post and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Journalists face increased online harassment, technological surveillance and rising imprisonment and killings, speakers at the United Nations said Tuesday.
In addition to physical threats to safety, technological targeting of journalists is also threatening free speech, advocates say. An Israeli company, NSO Group, has faced years of international scrutiny for its selling of a mobile-device hacking tool known as Pegasus, which has been used to break into cellphones belonging to politicians, activists and journalists, according to Facebook-parent Meta Platforms and Citizen Lab.
“When technology is used against us, we should use technology to push back against these nefarious actors,” David Rohde, executive editor of the New Yorker’s website and the incoming senior executive editor for national security at NBC News, said on Tuesday. He called on journalists and other organizations to work together to guard against technological surveillance.
The Journal’s editor in chief, Emma Tucker, is set to take part in a panel discussion on press freedom on Wednesday afternoon as part of the Journal’s Future of Everything Festival.
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