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Tratto da un documento di Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
“Oligarchs” buy up media not to increase media pluralism but to extend the scope of their own influence or the influence of their friends

08-09-2016 - For more than 30 years, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has combatted abuses against journalists such as murder, imprisonment, abduction, surveillance and phone tapping. RSF is now entering a new strategic area of action by launching a major campaign for journalistic independence. Imprisoning journalists is clearly unacceptable, but everyone’s right to information is also violated when journalists are put in “invisible prisons,” when they are chained to vested interests that prevent them from gathering and imparting news and information with their honesty, curiosity and professionalism as their sole guide. The 2015 World Press Freedom Index showed that only one person in four has access to a free press. Violence (including murder, torture and imprisonment) and censorship are the most visible constraints. But everywhere– both in dictatorships and, in a very different way, in democracies – we see the emergence of unprecedented means for swaying minds, subtle forms of manipulation, discreet but real political and economic interference. It is getting harder and harder for the public to distinguish content that is sponsored or dictated by interests from real reporting produced in an independent and honest manner that is as close as possible to the journalistic ideal. Since the 2000s, special rapporteurs of international organizations have referred to this issue in their statements, but the concept of editorial independence as a fundamental component of the right to information continues to be a blind spot in major human rights documents. International bodies are committed to defending the – very crucial – freedom and safety of journalists but show little interest in defending real journalism against influences and interests.
Journalistic independence is vital for humanity. As Alfred Sauvy said: “Well informed, people are citizens; badly informed, they become subjects.” Independently reported news and information is the basis for enlightened individual and collective decisions. Humanity and societies need “trusted observers” who can help them reach individual and collective choices that are based on the “unrestricted pursuit of objective truth,” as UNESCO’s constitution puts it. The pluralism cited in international resolutions should not become a choice between different sources of propaganda or PR content. When oligarchs go shopping for media outlets and use them for personal purposes or place them at the service of their business conglomerates, when governments use state media to wage information wars, or when the press departments of religious movements pretend to create media outlets that are in fact just vehicles for proselytizing, then the public debate as we have conceived it since the Enlightenment is in danger.
For this reason, RSF is launching the Save Journalistic Independence Campaign. This report on oligarchs and an upcoming report on information wars will help evaluate the present situation. Two long-term studies have also been launched. Julia Cagé, a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, is coordinating an investigation in the OECD countries entitled «Who Owns the Media? Capital, Governance and Independence.” At the same time, an initiative by RSF’s German section called Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) is tracking down media ownership in the countries of the South. It began in Colombia and Cambodia and is currently studying Ukraine and Tunisia.
On the basis of the studies that have been carried out, RSF has drafted a list of possible actions. Which would be most effective? Resolutions by international organizations? Creating benchmarks, toolkits that provide media professionals with the means for demanding journalistic independence? Procedures for labeling or even certifying individual media outlets? The non-exhaustive list of ideas needs a great deal of work. Whatever the conclusions, RSF will ensure that this issue, which is crucial for democracy, is on the agenda of major international forums such as the G8, the G20 and World Economic Forum in Davos in the years to come.
Changing the world of news and information will be a long-term job. Journalistic independence will allow the quality of journalism to improve. It is worth the effort, isn’t it?



Maria Clara Mussa
 
  
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