BBC covers Index's new mapping project

The BBC’s Digital Planet programme covered the Index on Censorship global media freedom map this week and you can catch up by listening to their podcast. One of the reasons we are tracking these media violations is to ensure that when the crisis is over we can gather the data together and hold governments to account. This was a point made by Index on Censorship’s editor-in-chief Rachael Jolley on the programme.

But it’s not just about holding governments to account later; we can make a change in the here and now, as Jolley stated in the case of Serbia. There, following a government decree that all information on coronavirus had to come from the prime minister, a journalist who was reporting on lack of protective gear in hospitals was arrested. This led to a massive public outcry with the prime minister rolling back on the decree in what Jolley called “a victory for public power”. “It does show that it’s worthwhile speaking about these things,” said Jolley. Listen to the interview in full.

Leaders are avoiding journalists' questions on the virus

After launching just three weeks ago, Index’s map, created in conjunction with Justice for Journalists Foundation, which tracks media violations during coronavirus, has now reported over 83 attacks on the media from all corners of the globe. This has kept our team busy, but also very concerned. The attacks are taking many different forms, from arresting journalists to kicking them out of countries.

One trend we’ve noticed this week is the growing number of world leaders who are avoiding answering perfectly valid press questions. US President Donald Trump, for example, started the week telling a reporter that their line of questioning was “horrid”. Read our article on the various ways leaders are evading journalist questions.

Many thanks also to the Reuters Institute and Freedom House for including the map in their weekly newsletters. These are worrying times, but together we will make sure that any violations that happen don’t go unnoticed. On that note, if you know of any incidents of the media being outwardly attacked or undermined in some way please do report it to our map.

Hungary slides further away from democracy

When your government tells you coronavirus is curable. A dispatch from China

Writing from the Chinese city of Nanjing, one journalist recounted what it has been like living in China these past few months where doctors who tried to inform the world of the virus have been arrested, people were initially told coronavirus was curable, and only good news about how the government is dealing with the virus is news. The writer said misleading information was “everywhere” and that they have felt “helpless”. 

At the same time they said Chinese people are responding to censorship of essential information in innovative ways, such as translating a quickly removed magazine article by Wuhan doctor Ai Fen into braille in order to get around the Great Firewall filters. This reminded us of an article about the memes Chinese internet users employ to overcome censorship. Read more about life in current coronavirus China.