2022-05-05 01:24
Today, on World Press Freedom Day, the Coalition For Women In Journalism publishes it’s First Quarterly report. This year, our report focuses on the ways in which journalists are targeted by authoritarian - and authoritarian minded democratic - states. They do this to suppress and diminish the critical role of the press that seeks answers and truth.
On this day we also expose impunity across states especially those who use legal and constitutional tools to silence the press. We demand an end to violence against journalists propagated by populist and majoritarian states.
We do this by focusing on three main regions of concern: Russia, Israel and India. The three countries have, in recent times, used militarization to expand their ambit of power while clamping down on press freedoms in order to detract from global attention towards their overreaches. This has resulted in them managing to create a perpetual state of fear and violence in the Ukrainian territory, Palestinian territory, Kashmir and among marginalized religious groups respectively.
In the first section of the following report we look at the several ways in which violence against women journalists have been realized in these regions. We examine the weaponization of state institutions, the use of brute strength under the guise of lawful force and utilization of majoritarian sentiments to intimidate. We also provide our readers a guide to how we categorize violence at The Coalition For Women In Journalism and shed light on the journalists who have suffered repercussions for continuing to stand up to unchecked state power.
In our second section review the first four months of 2022 and recall major cases of violations against women journalists between January 1 and April 30. Even as states seek to quash accountability, silence dissent and restrict space for independent media, women journalists around the world continue to speak truth to power and do their work. The CFWIJ is proud to shine the spotlight on some of the fierce press freedom defenders who challenged power in the past four months.
