Media Independence in Times of Crises: A Webinar for World Freedom Day 2020

As part of the global celebration of World Press Freedom Day 2020, UNESCO organized a webinar to discuss editorial independence and media capture in times of COVID-19 and beyond.
This webinar featured a discussion of the forthcoming UNESCO study ‘Reporting Facts: Free from Fear or Favor’. The study’s author, Marius Dragomir, was joined by prominent journalists and civil society representatives in an animated discussion that centered around the importance of press freedom and the threats to editorial independence in times of crisis.

Topics discussed:

- Long-term threats faced by media in recent years, from both public and private interests and disruptions to business models, which have created a ‘crisis for media’;

- How independent media have been affected by the current public health crisis due to COVID-19, and the resulting economic crisis and new restrictions on freedom of expression, which have exacerbated these long-term challenges and risk posing an existential threat to independent media;

The experts presented observations of trends from around the world and personal testimonies, identifying both the enormous challenges that independent media face, and the potential of actors from across government, international organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector, academics and media to push back.

Watch the webinar