FREEDOM House, a human-rights organization, says global press freedom has hit a 13-year low and raises concerns over governments to clamp down on dissent.
“Political leaders and other partisan forces in many democracies—including the United States, Poland, the Philippines, and South Africa—attacked the credibility of independent media and fact-based journalism, rejecting the traditional watchdog role of the press in free societies,” head researcher Jennifer Dunham said.
The study, available online at https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTP_2017_booklet_FINAL_April28.pdf, was conducted among 199 countries. It said only 13 percent of the global population enjoyed a free press—defined as robust coverage of political news, guaranteed safety of journalists, minimal intrusion of the state in minimal affairs, and the absence of onerous legal or economic pressures on the press.
Forty-two percent live in partly free press while 45 percent live in places where the press is not free. The Philippines’ media environment is characterized as partly free.
According to Freedom House, politicians in democratic states exert an effort to erode press rights so they can shape news coverage and delegitimize media outlets.
It cites the United States example, whose press remains largely free but which is now threatened by the apparent war that its new president has waged on the media, calling them enemies of the people when they are just a bit critical of him and his team.
These findings seem close to home taken in the light of the Duterte administration’s threat to block the renewal of the license of broadcast network ABS-CBN and to go after the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Both news organizations have been castigated by President Rodrigo Duterte for supposed biased reporting.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines issued a statement saying only tyrants shut down the news media. “By issuing such threats, Mr. Duterte is blatantly dangling the powers of the presidency and of the state, signaling his willingness to use these to stifle freedom of the press and of expression. And no, lest his mouthpieces attempt to excuse him by invoking hyperbole or his peculiar sense of humor, he was clearly not joking.”
In fact Mr. Duterte is quoted on page 16 of the Freedom House report. “The vultures, pretending to be journalists…” he said. To be sure, he is not the first chief executive who has berated the media. Former President Benigno Aquino III repeatedly berated journalists for focusing on the bad news instead of the good. Before him, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had the police storm the editorial offices of the Daily Tribune for being a possible source of destabilization materials.
Philippine media are not and have never been perfect. They will continue to struggle with their realities and face big and small ethical decisions. Media organizations may also find differences within and among each other—but all that is immaterial compared to the fundamental goal that brings everybody to the industry in the first place, to put forth the truth, and arm people with information that they need to be truly free and self-governing.
These are challenging times, nationally and globally. Journalists must remind themselves of the reason why they have embraced this profession. It’s not about glorifying oneself or saving the world. It’s doing our job, plain and simple, and fending off anything or anyone that prevents us from doing so.