Roadmap for Latin America and the Caribbean after #WorldPressFreedomDay

The outcomes of the intense debates and exchanges held at the Punta del Este Convention Center and via the virtual platform between May 2 and 4 2022 have truly transcended their initial space-time framework, becoming reflected in a variety of agendas, roadmaps, strategic plans, and commitments involving multiple actors. These vital inputs will allow redoubling tangible measures to protect journalism and journalists from escalating physical and digital threats, both now and in the near future.

One of the Global Conference's greatest accomplishments was articulating authoritative voices with a vision for the future. In this regard, the UNESCO Regional Advisor's office for Communication and Information for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Montevideo, organized a series of regional events in collaboration with key stakeholders from the region, allowing representatives from the media, journalists' associations, educators, academics, civil society organizations, activists, judicial operators, and representatives of digital platforms operating in the region to strengthen and deemphasize their respective roles.

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the "UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity", Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and Tawfik Jelassi, the UNESCO Deputy Director General for Communication and Information, both emphasized the importance of continuing to increase efforts and strengthening alliances to implement the Plan and thus contribute to ensuring the safety of journalists in the region, particularly female journalists. Thanks to the #TitularesSinRiesgo ("headlines without risk") campaign launched by UN Women in conjunction with UNESCO, the visibility and awareness of gender threats and violence in the profession received widespread attention throughout the conference and on social media.

A multi-stakeholder panel organized by regional civil society organizations discussed the "Latin American Declaration on Transparency of Internet Platforms" and the campaign #QueremosMásTransparencia (“we want more transparency”) at another of the conference's regional spaces. The panel concluded with a call to action, urging participants to work together with other sectors to operationalize the principles of the Latin American declaration and effectively promote Internet transparency from a regional perspective.

Various remarks in the session on Media Viability in Latin America and the Caribbean addressed the need to reassess the role and responsibility of digital platforms. Traditional media executives took advantage of the opportunity to highlight their regulatory and advertising revenue disparities with huge digital firms, and how this puts their business models and journalism as a public good in jeopardy. In this context, Jorge Canahuati, president of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), recommended supporting journalism as a "shared good of democratic states" through governmental policies that are "open, non-discriminatory, and do not jeopardize the media's independence." In a similar vein, Eugenio Sosa Mendoza, president of the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), said the region is trailing behind and that "it is time to proceed from the diagnosis stage to the execution stage."

An exchange on the latest trends in Inter-American Human Rights System´s jurisprudence on freedom of speech and journalist safety included reflection and analysis on legal frameworks and justice. Judge Ricardo Pérez Manrique, President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as well as Pedro Vaca, the current Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and former Rapporteurs Eduardo Bertoni, Edison Lanza, and Catalina Botero, all spoke at this session.

Progress toward the implementation of a Model Law on the Safety of Journalists in many regional parliaments is also highlighted, paving the path for a more effective protection of journalists in what is unfortunately one of the world's most dangerous and violent regions for news reporting. The brave testimonials given at the Association of Journalists of Latin America and the Caribbean´s event, where various media professionals exchanged information about the digital surveillance they faced, reflected this.

The speakers at the multidisciplinary round table that accompanied the presentation of the book “Navigating the Infodemic with MIL-Media and Information Literacy” highlighted the contributions of many actors (governments, audience advocates, the media, fact-checkers, academia, and others) to the fight against disinformation. "The goal is to provide citizens a compass, a tool," said Miriam Lewin, Argentina's Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services.

Finally, the Organization of American States (OAS) launched the Group of Friends of Freedom of Expression and Journalism, which is a promising initiative in the inter-American system to address current and future challenges to the exercise of freedom of expression and journalism, freedom of expression and the press, access to information, and journalist safety.