Category: News

Every year, World Press Freedom Day (May 3) is a day when we celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom and the invaluable work journalists do to provide the public with reliable and accurate information. Confronted as we are with the current COVID-19 pandemic, the role of journalism that is guided by a commitment to the truth – and an absolute obligation not to deceive – is more important than ever.

Two members of the Centre for Freedom of the Media research team at the University of Sheffield, Julie Posetti (who is Global Director of Research at the International Center for Journalists) and Kalina Bontcheva (who is Head of the Natural Language Processing Research Group at the Department of Computer Science), have written two new UNESCO Policy Briefs that assess the worrying extent of misinformation that has accompanied the COVID-19 crisis. The research was produced in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

Impunity for crimes against journalists raises concerns over serious failings of rule of law and justice within countries to the very forefront. In fact, under a regime of impunity journalists are no longer safeguarded by the application of constitutional provision or law enforcement and their safety becomes their own responsibility, a private concern to be undertaken without recourse to the provision by the state of personal security.