Tag: Turkey

  • Journalism under siege

    Journalism under siege

    It is getting harder every day to do the fundamental journalistic task of collecting facts and verifying information. It is also getting much more dangerous, writes Phil Chetwynd.

    In the first half of 2025, the climate facing journalists darkened to levels not seen in decades, reflecting a coordinated escalation of violence, intimidation, and censorship.

    The fabric of societies is being torn apart by what in many cases are deliberate and calculated campaigns to undermine facts, the bedrock of our shared reality.

    There is no need to prove things are untrue; you only need to relentlessly smear, sow doubt and float conspiracies. Often social media algorithms will do the rest.

    For Agence France-Presse, an international news agency with a reporting team spread across the globe, the figures are stark: we had 25 serious incidents involving journalists working for us in the first six months of this year. That is more than occurred in the whole of 2024.

    But these incidents of assaults, arrests, expulsions or journalists fleeing for their lives only hint at the full scale of the global assault on the public’s right to information.

    The geographical spread of violence and intimidation is widening. The situation is aggravated by the rise of authoritarian practices and populist rhetoric that openly targets the press.

    Law enforcement’s growing impunity – emboldened by prevailing political messages – has made physical assaults on journalists commonplace.

    This is not a phenomenon isolated to so-called unstable regimes; it is surfacing in established democracies and countries with long traditions of press freedom, pointing to a dangerous shift in global norms.

    Journalists have traditionally identified themselves at protests and public events, believing this identity carried some form of protection and legitimacy.

    But we increasingly see these identifiers as targets.

    Over the past year journalists working for us have been targeted in different and violent ways at protests in countries as varied as Turkey, Argentina and the United States.

    All of them were clearly identified as press. All of them are convinced they were targeted because they were journalists.

    In significant swathes of the world, journalism is effectively disappearing. The intimidation and threats have become unmanageable.

    We have seen journalists working for us being forced to flee from across the Sahel area of West Africa and also in areas of Central America such as Nicaragua and El Salvador.

    In parts of Eastern and Central Europe our fact-checkers face regular death threats and campaigns to intimidate and silence.

    The message often comes from the top. The presidency in Argentina posted on social media last year: “We Do Not Hate Journalists Enough”. In total the Argentine Journalism Forum recorded 179 assaults on media workers in 2024.

    And then there is Gaza.

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says nearly 200 journalists in Gaza have been killed over the past two years.

    It points to over 20 incidents where it believes individuals were deliberately targeted.

    Some of the journalists who work for AFP in Gaza refuse to wear their protective flak jackets because they fear it will make them a target. They also say people are scared to be near them because they think journalists are targets.

    And yet perhaps what is most notable is how few governments in the many countries that have thrived on press freedom are prepared to raise their heads above the parapet to stand up for facts, truth and press freedom.

    Many brave and dedicated journalists feel horribly alone at this point.

    This assault on journalism and campaign to undermine facts comes as the management of our digital lives is increasingly transferring to powerful Generative Artificial Intelligence tools.

    We can all see the astonishing capacities these tools have for knowledge building and human advancement, but we are also already seeing how they can be used to pollute our information ecosystem with vast amounts of false and made-up content.

    This feels like an inflection point.

    People talk casually about living in a post-truth world. Journalism is imperfect, it will not always get it right. But the honest aspiration to gather information and seek the truth is fundamental to the healthy functioning of our societies.

    Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for facts.

    There can be no alternative.

    Phil Chetwynd is the Global News Director for  Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

    This article was commissioned as part of World News Day – a global campaign to highlight the value of journalism. It is organised by WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum, Project Kontinuum and The Canadian Journalism Foundation.

  • Times of darkness

    Times of darkness

    Our current environment of misinformation, mistrust, the spread of illiberal politics through influencer-style authoritarians, and the erosion of democratic norms, is “less an era of change than a change of era,” writes Fernando Belzunce.

    We live in times characterised by misinformation, yet many people are still unaware of what this entails. The context is one of confusion and mistrust, where, in addition, the transformations we are seeing are so rapid and so far-reaching that it is almost impossible to assimilate them or gauge their consequences.

    This widespread bewilderment is being generated in a social climate of extreme polarisation, where powerful political forces, skilled at manipulating emotions, are capable of causing enormous instability through social media.

    The proliferation of false information and the infodemic, that overwhelming and disorienting information overload, contribute significantly to this sense of fragility.

    For all these reasons, and because of the events we are witnessing, one has the uneasy feeling that perhaps we are not experiencing an era of change – but rather, a change of era.

    Contributing to this global climate of vulnerability is the successful expansion of illiberal political currents across dozens of countries, which make use of democracy itself to promote anti-democratic agendas.

    The politicians involved are clearly following a shared playbook, inspired by the world’s most powerful man, who has globalised this strategy of misinformation.

    A leader democratically elected just four years after his supporters staged an uprising against an election result.

    An insurrection that had seemed inconceivable in the United States and which, a year later – as proof of the universal nature of this movement – was replicated in Brazil.

    Populist and autocratic tendencies are influencing the new radical politicians and even those belonging to parties previously known for their moderation.

    This is happening in Hungary, Poland, Israel, the Philippines, Turkey, El Salvador, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, France and Italy.

    Hence the emergence of influencer-style leaders of this new doctrine cultivated on social media – the breeding ground for ruthless attacks against those who think differently – as well as the constant questioning of institutions, elected to represent the popular will, yet surprisingly accused of being enemies of the people.

    Attacks on the justice system, for example, are frenzied. Likewise, the brutal smear campaign against the media and the attacks on many of its professionals, which are carried out with startling impunity.

    All of this is happening simultaneously in many liberal societies. Is it really just a coincidence?

    We are immersed in these dark times that in the future will be the subject of study.

    The impact of major technological trends on journalism and democracies is huge, and it seems clear that this new turbulent environment encourages misinformation and weakens media firms, with no solution in sight.

    Most of the world’s media outlets fell into crisis years ago, while multinational technology companies have achieved total market values exceeding the GDP of countries such as France, Spain or Italy.

    Millions of people spend hours every day on social media platforms based on a business model that rewards lies and sensationalism driven by algorithms.

    They are an open field for the dissemination of fake news and spin, as well as for the consolidation of polarisation and hatred.

    Democracy is so ingrained in liberal societies that it appears to be safe from harm, which leads to a dangerous complacency as it lowers its guard.

    But widespread geopolitical disorientation, together with unpredictable leadership and disregard for various international organisations, is shaking the very foundations of a universal system of values that has been accepted and respected for decades.

    We take it for granted that, despite the criticism and the attacks, democracy will always endure, even though, as history shows, this is not necessarily the case.

    This is demonstrated by recent events that previously would have seemed unthinkable, such as one sovereign country invading another in Europe, or a civilian population being subjected to a humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East.

    It is not security that is at stake in this predicament. Nor is it the economy. Nor immigration. Nor identity. It is democracy. Because this is about democracy.

    And it is also about journalism, which is the profession that serves democracy and all citizens, and that is why it is the target of this global offensive.

    Today, as we celebrate World News Day, seems the perfect time to remember the value and significance of journalism.

    A flawed profession, its practitioners being people, it is the best system we know for providing societies access to professional, fact-based, accurate information that allows them to make decisions freely. As simple as it is significant.

    It is an activity that also keeps a watchful eye on governments, companies and institutions, promoting plurality by offering different points of view and serving as a mouthpiece for people and causes that would otherwise be forgotten.

    A tough, beautiful and necessary job.

    Perhaps now more than ever. Because now that we know AI is going to transform our perception of reality forever and will undoubtedly contribute to the spread of misinformation, we want there to be people who are professionally dedicated to a craft based on verifying information, checking data, documenting facts, and travelling to the places where events are taking place to witness what is really happening there.

    Because without journalism there is no democracy. And without democracy, darkness descends.

    By Fernando Belzunce, Executive Editorial Director of Spanish media group Vocento and author of Journalists in Times of Darkness.

    This article was commissioned to mark World News Day on September 28, a global news industry campaign.to highlight the value of journalism.