UNESCO published two policy reports in Spanish to understand and respond to the 'infodemic': the disinformation pandemic about COVID-19 that has circulated at a speed impossible to control.
Various nongovernmental organizations have denounced the act against the journalist Julia Gavarrete of the magazine GatoEncerrado and have asked for an investigation into the theft, however, the president of that nation has made light of the situation.
Brazilian journalist Bianca Santos filed a complaint July 7 with the United Nations Human Rights Commission against President Jair Bolsonaro. Nineteen nongovernmental organizations subscribed to the complaint.
Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR; Ricardo Pérez Manrique, judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Joan Barata, Spanish expert; and Guilherme Canela, head of UNESCO's section on Freedom of Expression and Security of Journalists talked during the webinar “Legal challenges for the protection of freedom of expression in times of COVID-19.”
The organization also noted that in Brazil, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua the stigmatization of the media and journalists is on the rise.
Journalists arrived from the most dangerous states, and where we began to have contact and awareness of how dangerous it was to be a journalist in Mexico and in some regions.
According to Abraji's investigation, Pureza made constant references in his radio program to alleged irregularities committed in the administration of former Mayor João Batista Gomes Rodrigues, known as Batista Boiadeiro (PTB).
The independent press also urged the government, for the first time, according to 14yMedio, for the repeal of laws that infringe on the right to freedom of expression and the legalization of independent media.
The organization recorded 30 cases in which police officers violently advanced against journalists, photographers and cameramen from digital, print and televised media outlets.
This Plan of Action “aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers around the world,” according to the statement.
About 60 independent journalists have gone into exile, which in a country as small as Nicaragua is an important number proportionally speaking.
The creation of an environment that allows the exercise of freedom of expression, the creation and maintenance of a free and inclusive Internet and the private control of digital communication are the main challenges for freedom of expression in the next decade, according to experts.