International Press Institute Documents Media Freedom Violations During Pandemic
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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International Press Institute (IPI) is monitoring and documenting media freedom violations committed across the world amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Underlining that "the free flow of news and reports and information is more essential than ever," the IPI has urged all governments to "recognize the crucial role of independent news media in the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure that emergency measures to tackle the disease are not used as a pretext to censor news and information on- and offline or implement regressive regulations against media freedom."
IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi has also made a statement about the issue. Recognizing that the pandemic has forced governments to implement emergency measures, she has warned that "the free flow of independent news is more essential than ever" and added:
"In this age of disinformation, the public needs news that it can trust. It is critical at this stage that governments support the work of independent media, which are crucial allies in the fight against COVID-19."
Accordingly, she has called on all states to "ensure that any measures taken to tackle COVID-19 and that infringe on fundamental rights are necessary, proportionate, temporary and limited to solving the immediate health crisis."
Media freedom violations by region and month
In this context, the IPI has been sharing media freedom violations committed around the world during the pandemic in an infographic by region, month and type of violation. As of 4.47 p.m. today (April 17), the number of media freedom violations committed around the world was as 118:
* Click here for the infographic
Media freedom violations in Turkey in March and April
As reported by the IPI, during the course of the pandemic six media freedom violations were committed in Turkey in March and two violations in April so far. The organization has listed them as follows:
March
"March 20, 2020 - Journalists Mustafa Ahmet Oktay and Eren Sarıkaya from Bartın-based Halk Newspaper and Pusula Newspaper were taken into custody over a report published about the spread of COVID-19
March 23, 2020 - CNN Turkey barred its field reporters from entering the newsroom building to "limit" interactions amid COVID19.
March 25, 2020 - Turkey journalist Tugay Can is accused of "creating fear and panic amongst public" over Covid-19 news coverage.
March 31, 2020 - A local journalist for the outlet Van Haberdar, Oktay Candemir, was called to testify for his social media posts on the spread of COVID-19 in the region. Candemir has been previously targeted by judicial authorities for his work, with 25 cases opened in the last 2 years.
March 31, 2020 - Kurdish journalist, writer and activist Nurcan Baysal was summoned by the police on March 30 to testify for sharing prisoners' letters and two articles on the novel coronavirus pandemic. Baysal was released after giving her testimony.
March 31, 2020 - Mezopotamya News Agency correspondent Ahmet Kanbal faces a new investigation for reporting on COVID-19 positive children being held in the same hospital unit with other kids in Mardin Public Hospital.
April
April 3, 2020 - Hakan Aygun, a veteran Turkish journalist, has been arrested for inciting hatred with a social media post that belittled President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's campaign to raise funds for victims of the coronavirus outbreak. He was arrested in the southwestern province of Mugla.
April 15, 2020 - Radio and Television High Council (RTÜK) issued broadcast bans for three nights on prime time news over anchor Fatih Portakal's critical comments while reporting state's Covid 19 policies. Fox TV was also fined with a monetary bill to pay 3 % of its advertisement revenue." (HA/SD)
