Provoking cartoons and "information predators": The campaigns of World Press Freedom Day 2013

• By Silvia Higuera
• May 6, 2013

On World Press Freedom Day, several press freedom organizations underscored the preoccupying increase in attacks against media outlets and journalists around the world that made 2012 the deadliest year for journalists in the last decade.

To commemorate the day, the organizations released reports on the state of press freedom around the world and invited the public in general to join their campaigns. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas made a summary of some of these.

• The Freedom House's annual report and the Committee to Protect Journalists' 2013 Impunity Index found that while freedom of the press is decreasing, impunity is on the rise in Latin America. Paraguay, Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and Honduras were described as "not free," while Colombia, Mexico and Brazil were the countries with the highest impunity index related to murders of journalists.

• With the purpose of not only commemorating but also bringing attention to the topic, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) launched a special package of resources that people and media outlets can use to join the celebration. WAN-FRA suggested five ways to help the cause, which include producing “provoking cartoons,” publishing editorials on the topic or retweeting an animation on the subject of journalist killings.
• Reporters Without Borders published a list of the 39 “predators” of freedom of information during 2013. The list names several heads of state, religious leaders and organized criminals that have censored, imprisoned, tortured or killed journalists. Although most of the so-called "predators" are based in Asia, the organization included organizations like the Zetas in Mexico and the Urabeños in Colombia.
• The Inter American Press Association, IAPA, invited its members to observe the date by republishing their official statement on their newspapers or online portals before May 3 and tweeting with the hashtag #DiadelaPrensa.

• Based on its first analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean, IFEX-ALC underscored the need for the region's governments to take measures against impunity.

Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.