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SPOTLIGHT

Photo: David W Cerny/Reuters

A blow to global freedom of expression

It's been nearly a week since US President Donald Trump ordered the termination of US Agency for Global Media grants for Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. 

The defunding of these outlets cripples print, radio, internet, and television services in at least 50 languages serving a global audience of hundreds of millions, many of whom live in authoritarian environments with little or no access to independent news.   

International press freedom and journalism organisations and advocates have warned that the safety of the journalists working for these outlets will be put at risk. At least 10 journalists reporting for the US Agency for Global Media are currently in detention, including Ihar Losik from the RFE/RL Belarus Service, RFE/RL Azerbaijani Service journalist Farid Mehralizada, and RFA Vietnamese contributor Pham Chi Dung. 

‘For decades, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia have delivered vital news and information to people who need it most. Though supported by US Congress, these outlets have always been independent, leading the pushback against censorship,’ said ARTICLE 19's Executive Director Quinn McKew.

‘At a time when shifts in global politics are profound and deadly conflicts continue around the world, we need the unique expertise and professionalism these journalists bring to their specific media environments. Journalists working to promote democracy and championing media freedom must be protected – not silenced.’  

ALSO IN THE NEWS

At the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, ARTICLE 19 presented a statement urging Member States to strengthen measures to protect women journalists, who often face pervasive and uniquely gender-based risks when carrying out their vital work. We urged states to use an intersectional and gendered approach – grounded in an understanding of these intersecting risks women journalists face – when working on resolutions about the safety of journalists.  

For women journalists, gender-based violence and discrimination compound the silencing effects of threats that journalists face more broadly. UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan has a term for this silencing: ‘gendered censorship', recognising the structural and systemic discrimination women face, limiting their ability to express themselves. 

Governments often fail to respond to attacks, threats, and violence against journalists, resulting in impunity for these crimes even in the most extreme situations: when journalists are murdered. In some situations, authorities actually perpetrate these crimes without consequences, creating a hostile environment for journalists around the world. 

Under international human rights law, governments must ensure all women fully enjoy both the right to freedom of expression and the right to equality. But current policies and practices are failing to protect women journalists from the risks they face due to and through their work. Many take safety into their own hands, creating women-led, community-based measures to keep themselves and their colleagues safe when existing policies and infrastructures fail them.  

States must recognise, support and enable these measures and complement them with policy developed alongside, not on behalf of, women journalists that truly focuses on their needs. 

Find out more about our Equally Safe research and global case studies.