Friday is World Press Freedom Day, and The Times is lending its space to the cause of bringing home hundreds of missing and imprisoned journalists around the world.
“The need for factual, reliable information has never been greater,” said Times Publisher AG Sulzberger and Editor-in-Chief Joe Kahn in a statement published by The Washington Post and Wall Street.・Wrote along with leaders of the Journal in an open letter published Friday morning. “But threats against journalists around the world are more prevalent than ever.”
Russia illegally detained Evan Gershkovich, a former Times colleague who now works for the Wall Street Journal, for more than a year. My schoolmate Austin Tice, a freelance journalist for the Washington Post, was held in Syria for 11 years, and his parents gave him little or no information about his condition. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like them.
Since October 7, at least 97 journalists, the majority of them Palestinians, have been killed in the Middle East conflict. And, as Committee to Protect Journalists Chair Jodi Ginsburg recently detailed in a Times Opinion, Israel continues to deny reliable access to Gaza to promote international and independent reporting. ing.
In addition to Evan’s case, the editorial board in March reported that Vladimir is trying to suppress reporting critical of his government, including the plight of journalist and dual American-Russian citizen Ars Kurmasheva. – Emphasized President Putin’s attempts. As the Board says, the charges against both parties are a farce and the U.S. government should continue to provide its full support.
Of course, the suppression of independent media can also be more subtle. Consider the smear campaign against Gustavo Goriti, a prominent Peruvian journalist. Gority is currently being charged in apparent retaliation for reporting corruption. Or the imprisonment of Guatemalan journalist José Zamora, which press freedom groups say is a false accusation designed to silence him.
Once a rare beacon of press freedom in Asia, Hong Kong has changed since China passed a tough national security law in 2020. Newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai and others have since been imprisoned on trumped-up charges including sedition. As Mr. Lai’s son wrote in the Times Opinion last September, “City officials have shown that they no longer tolerate the very things that once made the city great: free speech, the rule of law, and a love of liberty.” We’re showing it to the world.”
It’s a message that rings painfully loud in too many places today.
