World Press Freedom Day

  Increased reliance on digital services means that citizens often unknowingly share private information and data in exchange for free services. Individuals’ data leaves behind a “digital footprint” that can be analysed in real time or ex-post by hostile and illegitimate actors. Moreover, data held by Internet and cybersurveillance companies about personal lives can often be obtained by authorities without adequate due process or transparency.  There is a growing global push encouraging more transparency regarding how Internet companies exploit citizens’ data, how it informs predictive models and artificial intelligence, and enables amplification of disinformation and hatred.  This was underlined in the Windhoek+30 Declaration call for technology companies to “work to ensure transparency in relation to their human and automated systems”.  Relevant here are UNESCO’s set of principles to enhance the transparency of internet platform companies, which will be discus...

Whether in the context of COVID-19 or during war and conflict, reliable information is more than necessary: it is vital. Journalists play an essential role in providing this information . They assess, investigate and disseminate facts, ensuring people can make informed decisions. Journalism is therefore a public good, which we must defend and support as such. Yet even as the United Nations marks the 10th anniversary of its Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which UNESCO is proud to lead, journalists are facing a fast-evolving environment. As our newest World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development report shows, more than five in six people around the world live in a country that experienced a decline in press freedom over the past five years. Some 400 journalists were killed during the same period just for doing their jobs. Digital technologies are further revolutionizing this landscape. They have permitted unprecedented exchanges o...