Free

To Speak?

Some things I learnt today, in 2024:

➊ May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day…

Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s message today ⬇️

The 31st World Press Freedom Day Conference will be held in Santiago this year by the Chile government and UNESCO. The theme for 2024 is "A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis."

#WorldPressFreedomDay

Perfect timing and all! We could certainly do with some assistance there…

Colleagues and family members pray at the funeral of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza [File: Mahmud Hams/AFP]

Samer… الله يرحمه

And if numbers and graphs were more your speed… well then, feast your vision, on these pearly visuals…

Al Jazeera

Other things learnt include…

➋ Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

➌ And their annual World Press Freedom Index, which evaluates press freedom in 180 countries and territories.

[…] the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten.

The 2023 Index spotlights the rapid effects that the digital ecosystem’s fake content industry has had on press freedom. In 118 countries (two-thirds of the 180 countries evaluated by the Index), most of the Index questionnaire’s respondents reported that political actors in their countries were often or systematically involved in massive disinformation or propaganda campaigns. The difference is being blurred between true and false, real and artificial, facts and artifices, jeopardising the right to information. The unprecedented ability to tamper with content is being used to undermine those who embody quality journalism and weaken journalism itself.

The Maghreb - Middle East region is the one with the worst situation in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index. It is followed by the Asia-Pacific region, where journalism is suffocating under the weight of authoritarian governments. 

In the Middle East and North Africa, the situation is “very serious” in nearly half of the countries. The United Arab Emirates joins the eight other countries in the red zone on the map: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine, Iraq, Bahrain, Syria and Egypt. Palestine, occupied and under bombardment by the Israeli army, and the deadliest country for journalists, is also at the bottom of the Index. Qatar is now the region’s only country where the situation is not classified either as “difficult” or “very serious.”

Wars are killing journalists in the region. Palestine (157th), the most dangerous country for reporters, is paying a high price. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have so far killed more than 100 journalists in Gaza, including at least 22 in the course of their work. Since the start of the war, Israel (101st) has been trying to suppress the reporting coming out of the besieged enclave while disinformation infiltrates its own media ecosystem. Overtaken by Qatar (84th), Israel has lost its number 1 position in the region and the classification of its press freedom situation has gone from “problematic” to “difficult”. The IDF also killed three journalists in Lebanon (140th).

➍ Nobel Peace Center

I of course knew/know of like the Nobel Peace Prize and all… Just didn’t know of the center per se…

Located at Oslo City Hall Square, in the converted 1872 train station, the Nobel Peace Center is the public face of the Nobel Peace Prize. We use the power of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates’ ideas, work and causes, to engage and inspire small and large actions which make the world a more peaceful place.

➎ UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization…

And yes I do feel a little smarter than when I started the day, thank you for asking 🤓

Our mission since 1945 is to build peace through international cooperation as it is the only way to build bridges between nations. Therefore, as a laboratory of ideas, UNESCO seeks to offer a broad range of expertise in the fields of Education, the Sciences and Culture.

In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments

- Friedrich Nietzsche

It is in stagnant pasts that fantasies belong…

Law & Order

Because there is simply far too much work to do.

And no, not the kind that involves ice cream licking on a super stage (Actually not entirely sure what value sordid man or activity bring about for us…)

It is work though ‘our’ children are having to do, because we fail them (all) still.

But it is these children that will saves ours…

our.moral.imperative

A post shared by @our.moral.imperative

Our future exists, because they do…

Shukran

🇵🇸♥️🙏

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