IPI launches campaign highlighting challenges to press freedom worldwide

The campaign will feature the stories of five journalists from four continents, sharing the details of their struggle to carry out their work despite tremendous obstacles created by the illegitimate use of laws and administrative restrictions, or by authorities’ failure to provide journalists with a safe working environment.

“I was arrested once, and convicted for defaming the president,” Angolan journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques recounted in an interview with IPI that is featured in the campaign. “I was not allowed to present any evidence in court. And that is how I was convicted.”

Marques goes on to describe how criminal defamation laws impede journalistic work by inflicting disproportionate punishments and creating the infamous “chilling effect” on media, which stifles debate and fosters self-censorship.

IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi explained:

“#WEWANTCHANGE draws on the powerful voices of journalists who have accompanied IPI for many years in its fight for press freedom and freedom of expression worldwide. Their stories – the courage they have shown in the face of threats to their freedom and personal safety, supported by their passionate dedication to a journalism that pursues an important public function – show compelling evidence of how these obstacles to press freedom greatly hinder democratic practices."

Trionfi also said that the campaign utilises IPI’s strength as a global organisation. “The collective voice of our members and friends around the world is the strongest tool IPI has to bring about better conditions for press freedom."

You can find #WEWANTCHANGE via campaigns.freemedia.at and http://www.freemedia.at.