This is my truth, tell me yours

‘When it is a battle for facts, it is journalists that hold the line’ Maria Ressa, CEO, Rappler

Last year the BBC journalist Ros Atkins went viral on social media for one of his ‘explainer’ pieces, during which he unpicked the so-called Partygate scandal that had recently broken and that has since consumed Boris Johnson’s administration. Neither Atkins nor his signature style were new to journalism, but delivered straight to camera via a fast-paced monologue, verging on the monotone, the broadcast clearly made for compelling viewing during a febrile time in Westminster and the country. Atkins’ approach seemed to challenge the conventional wisdom of what appeals to media consumers in an age of diminished attention spans. As people tried to reconcile themselves to what felt like a distinct betrayal of their trust, they were prepared to invest in a medium that seemed to be straining for the truth on their behalf.

By contrast the superficial allure of clickbait served by algorithm, unmediated and free of critical thinking and analysis, is the equivalent of a high fructose diet without an eye on our long-term health. It has been blamed as the source of many of our present, most toxic ills – not least the legitimacy of far-right thinking in mainstream politics. At such a time, the resilience of a journalism that still lays claim to an objective truth, to seeking out primary sources and to surfacing the voices of affected communities, should give us hope. But as Atkins himself pointed out in a recent speech to the Society of Editors, those in the business of such journalism must not be complacent:

News is not a given in people’s lives. It can’t be assumed people will seek to learn about our world via journalism. It can’t be assumed people understand and value the way that journalism works or why we think the information we produce has value. It can’t be assumed that the way we tell stories is the way people want to hear them. Ros Atkins, May 2022

We might add that it can’t be assumed that just because one community wants to share and hear those stories, that those in power will welcome the exposure. The human rights NGO Media Defence (where I serve as a volunteer board member) published its annual report this month. The grim paradox of running a human rights charity is that a successful year for our work means it’s been a bad year for humans. In our case, this means the journalists around the world to whom we provide a legal defence against harassment, threats of physical violence, imprisonment without a fair trial – or indeed against any of the myriad ways those in power seek to chill freedom of speech and obscure their own mendacity, brutality and corruption.

Navigating global crises like pandemics requires the presence of reliable, open and freely flowing sources of news and information. It should matter then that the International Press Institute (IPI) has reported at least 473 violations against media freedom globally since the pandemic began. As the Media Defence report points out, our own experience was that citizens around the world were not just battling the forces of online disinformation, but also governments who exploited the fear of covid for their own ends. By leveraging the public’s acceptance of enhanced state power, they were able to cement their control and blunt tools that might previously have given voice to the already vulnerable and exploited. The pandemic provided a convenient veil behind which the weakening of institutions, environmental damage, human rights abuse, and corruption could continue unabated.

The government of Hungary was a prime (but certainly not the only) example, as it rolled out draconian emergency powers on an unlimited basis, which Media Defence reported back in 2020. Transparency International examined how this enabled the Hungarian government to exploit the pandemic to undermine public interest information laws, curtail the growth of municipal power, and change the law so that it became even easier to funnel public funds into private hands. Claims that Hungarian journalists, lawyers and opposition politicians were subject to surveillance using the Pegasus spyware tool provided the shadowy underbelly to the more blatant dilution of media plurality through the forced takeover of independent outlets by progovernment forces (Freedom House).

Media Defence is a small international NGO fighting some big battles on behalf of freedom of speech, which is sadly under constant threat in many parts of the world. In 2021, we supported 466 cases in 61 countries. Throughout the year we also worked with nineteen partner organisations in seventeen countries where the need for legal support is the highest. Our support enabled them to litigate at least 350 additional cases. We also engaged in strategic litigation designed to counter the institutional fog created by state control of the very systems we rely on to serve us our news. This includes challenging a recent government suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, just one example of ‘website blocking’ that routinely takes place around the world.

Intimidation, surveillance, state control of news platforms, internet shutdowns – ?182 such shutdowns in 34 countries last year – these are all points on a spectrum that makes the life of a journalist extremely difficult. But as Media Defence Chair, Sarah Bull, reminds us in her Foreword to our report, those points also tragically include the most consequential of events: killings.

In just a few months of conflict eighteen journalists have been killed in Ukraine. This is sadly an all too common occurrence. The IPI compiles a yearly Death Watch – a haunting tapestry of journalists either targeted due to their work or killed as collateral caught in the crossfire, with 45 such deaths documented in 2021. We should mourn the loss of those who bear witness on our behalf. They and their families pay a heavy price for their commitment to shining a spotlight into the darker recesses of our troubled home. Our complacency leaves us vulnerable. As the saying goes ‘democracy dies in darkness’.

The 2022 Death Watch will sadly now include the Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist for the Al Jazeera network, who was shot and killed on 11 May whilst covering a raid that was being conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Jenin in the West Bank. This despite wearing a vest clearly labelled “PRESS”. Whilst the Israeli government promised an investigation to determine the source of the shots, the video and other digital evidence compiled by the investigative journalism platform Bellingcat does seem to corroborate eye-witness statements that point to the IDF (whether deliberate or otherwise), rather than stray Palestinian bullets.

Obituaries reporting on Abu Akleh’s almost three decades of work point to someone who was committed to being a trusted and deeply grounded source of news on the enduring conflict in the region. Writing in The Guardian, Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov explained that her method was to allow ‘the voices of the people to tell their stories; and in doing so speak to a bigger picture, which made often complex themes digestible for viewers.’ Or as Abu Akleh once said of her chosen career: “I chose journalism to be close to the people. It might not be easy to change the reality, but at least I could bring their voice to the world.”

Changing the reality for the most vulnerable is indeed not easy. But the work of Media Defence, and the lawyers and partner NGOs who work with us around the world, is designed to ensure that the reality belongs to us first and foremost, and not to those who would obscure that reality as they arrogate yet more power to themselves. The courage of the journalists we work to defend at Media Defence is humbling. They represent a line between us and the gradual erosion of hard-won freedoms that has felt increasingly narrow in recent years. This year will sadly be at least as challenging as the last, with new fronts in the battle for media freedom opening all the time, but I'm proud to support organisations like Media Defence as we do our bit to hold the line.

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Richard Brophy is a volunteer board member of Media Defence. This blog was written in that capacity.

Media Defence is recruiting for new trustees to join our Board. If you are interested in our work and would like to know more please go to our website and get in touch. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Photo by Valery Tenevoy on Unsplash