By Nik Williams, Project manager, Scottish PEN
THREATS of attacks, imprisonment or death facing journalists around the globe do not emerge out of nowhere. They are the result of policies that target journalists, attitudes that devalue their profession and endemic corruption that places power in unseen places. The world at large is facing a crisis for press freedom everywhere. In 2018, according to Reporters Without Borders, 66 journalists had been killed worldwide, while in 2019, 174 journalists, 150 citizen journalists and 17 media assistants have been imprisoned during the course of their duties. Never has the Scottish Press Freedom Summit, taking place at the Paterson’s Land campus of the University of Edinburgh tomorrow [July 19], been more necessary.
This is not a problem exclusively felt by journalists in conflict zones, failing states or states with weak legal systems – although these exacerbate issues around press freedom – journalists everywhere face threats. Lyra McKee was murdered in Northern Ireland, covering a protest. Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey were threatened with imprisonment in the UK for the alleged theft of confidential documents relating to the Loughinisland massacre that suggested collusion between the authorities and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Outwith the UK, Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered when a car bomb exploded her car in Malta in 2017 and Jan Kuciak was shot to death in Slovakia in 2018. Both Jan and Daphne were uncovering allegations of corruption in their countries, whether that was connected to the Panama Papers, illicit funds or ties to organised crime, corruption or abuses of powers is the groundwater that feeds attacks on journalists. When there is information some want hidden, coupled with flawed legal processes and entrenched impunity, that results in the killers of journalists going unpunished in nine out of 10 cases, the foundations are in place for journalists to be killed, threatened, censored or imprisoned.
To protect press freedom, we need to do more than condemn the murder of journalists and commit to further protections, we need to address the cause not solely the symptoms. We need to understand the drivers to states and non-state actors targeting journalists. This includes laws, such as defamation, hate speech and vague and overly-broad national security legislation, the deployment of surveillance to censor, chill or restrict the freedom within which journalists can operate, understand how the withering away of local media outlets and consolidated media ownership undermines media plurality and the sharing of marginalised and minority viewpoints, and we need to explore our culpability around corruption, abuses of power or entrenched power inequalities. We can and should stand up for at-risk journalists, but without addressing these root causes that create an environment where journalists can be targeted with impunity, journalists will always remain at-risk.
Tomorrow in Edinburgh, the Scottish Press Freedom Summit is a step towards this goal. Scottish PEN, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Law School, Saltire Society and the National Union of Journalists is bringing together leading journalists, academics, activists and experts to see how journalists everywhere can be protected and press freedom respected. A free press is a vital component of democracy and by protecting it, we are protecting the ability to challenge power, have our voices heard and take an active role in the world around us.
So please join us in Edinburgh tomorrow for the Scottish Press Freedom Summit – every murdered or imprisoned or exiled journalist is a policy failure and it is time to do something about it.
Join us for free at
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scottish-press-freedom-summit-2019-tickets-63330696819
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