By Alexander Schallenberg
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Ressa and her news organization face multiple court charges. An article on her news website, Rappler, about alleged corruption by the chief justice of the Philippines Supreme Court may well land her in prison for "cyber libel." The sentence was based on a law, which entered into force four months after the original article was published.
This is but one example of the daily reality for journalists in many parts of the world. Too often, it leads to the loss of critical voices and the loss of information due to censorship or self-censorship. Journalists have to fear deadly attacks, lengthy prison sentences or harassment campaigns. This shock and awe strategy against media outlets and their employees is one fundamental reason why so many people do not have access to the information they need.
We often blame social media platforms and their algorithms for pushing us into filter bubbles and echo chambers, and indeed there is truth to this. However, efforts by various governments and political parties to take control of the public realm, attacking and discrediting critical journalism, have greatly contributed to polarization. Targeted smear campaigns against women journalists and representatives of minorities have silenced many journalists and led to an immense loss of diversity in reporting, at a time when diverse voices are needed more than ever.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was a highly respected journalist reporting for the Times of Malta. Her killing in 2017 was a tragic loss for the many people who admired her coverage when confronting and highlighting organized crime and political corruption. Her courage had turned Daphne into a role model for young women aspiring to a career in journalism. Their dreams were crushed by her killing. Even more so, they were crushed by the awareness that perpetrators of attacks against journalists, all too often, go unpunished.
Physical violence is but one of many forms of attacks aimed at silencing journalists and taking control of the public domain. The recent arrest of almost 40 journalists covering the protests in Iran over Mahsa Amini's death is another attempt to stifle press freedom during a national crisis. Women journalists, again, have been the primary target.
Finally, we have seen an alarming increase in government surveillance around the world, posing a major threat to journalists and their sources. Over the past year, investigations by civil society and tech experts have revealed the use of Pegasus spyware by more than a dozen governments to snoop illegally on journalists and political opponents. The International Press Institute (IPI) has documented the Russian government's use of biometric technologies, including facial recognition, for surveilling and repressing journalists in Moscow and other major Russian cities.
Access to accurate, credible and diverse news sources allows us to participate effectively in democratic deliberations. As anti-democratic tendencies have been spreading fast around the world and disinformation is rife within our societies, defending the right of journalists to carry out their profession without fear of retaliation is more important than ever.
In this vein, the High Level Conference on the Safety of Journalists in Vienna on Nov. 3-4 comes at the right time. Today, more than ever, we need to identify effective strategies to guarantee media freedom and journalists' safety, thereby protecting and safeguarding our democracies.
Let us, therefore, join together in the spirit of the words of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the opening of the 77th U.N. General Assembly: "When freedom of any individual in a nation comes under threat, members of the community must join hands to remove the threat and defend freedom." Let us join hands and renew our commitment to the freedom of the press. Only by protecting journalists can we protect our democracies.
Alexander Schallenberg is the foreign minister of Austria.
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