World Press Freedom Day 2020

Today is World Press Freedom Day. 

It is a global day set aside to recognise those of us who work in the press. 

The press, the people who transmit information to individuals no matter where they are and do that job with a level of commitment, honesty, decency, integrity, and appreciation of the widescale impact of our work.

This is my third year marking the day as a member of the press with the weight of that responsibility.

World Press Freedom Day 2020 is marked during one of the most difficult times for many in the press. This is a time of incredible changes in technology and job losses as a result of the multiple new ways people can now acquire news and information. 

It is a time when the press is under threat from governments and government agencies across the globe who believe that spreading a narrative that the press "cannot be trusted" is a way to ensure that they maintain power during confusing times. 

It is also a time when the press is being asked to be more and more accountable for bad decisions, poor reporting, and statements and positions that do not accurately reflect reality. 

World Press Freedom Day 2020 is also being marked during a pandemic.

The coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus has led to a pandemic that has pressed those of us in the press to respect and honour our obligations to provide information and news while all being concerned for our own lives and the well-being and those of the people we love. 

Unlike isolated incidents in separate parts of the world, all members of the press across the globe are today expected to do their jobs professionally while at the same time deal with the pressure of their own realities and protecting their own lives. 

World Press Freedom Day 2020's tagline this year is "Journalism without Fear or Favour" and it is an encouragement that each and every one of us is not only to take this job seriously but to see how seriously the public takes our job. 

That public is diverse. It is not only the working adult professional watching the news on television but also an elderly person at home listening to the radio. It is a schoolchild watching the news on YouTube but also a person with disabilities seeing the language we use to refer to them. 

That is a sacred responsibility we have but also a right to free expression we claim under the Jamaican Constitution in section 13(3)(c) and also under international instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

These are only some of the documents that highlight the importance of the power of the press but also frame our work so that in this time of confusion and chaos, the press can function, thrive, and carry out its own responsibilities. 

Many media houses all across the world are coping with the incredible pressures that COVID-19 brings, not only on the individuals that work for their organisations but also on the organisations themselves and their viability and ability to keep members of staff even as the press grows in importance as researchers of information and spreaders of truth during this time. 

Jamaica was ranked 6th in the world for press freedom in 2020 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF - abbreviation in French) but the RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire encourages us all across the globe not to let down our guard as

The public health crisis provides authoritarian governments with an opportunity to implement the notorious “shock doctrine” – to take advantage of the fact that politics are on hold, the public is stunned and protests are out of the question, in order to impose measures that would be impossible in normal times…

The press will, therefore, be challenged to explore new and creative ways to convey information while staying true to its core principles of impartiality and accuracy and to be the eyes of the nation during these times.

At all times, however, it is to be remembered that the freedom of the press is a fundamental marker of the freedom of a society, a key component of a well-functioning democracy, and an important part of every person having a voice and a say in our country. 

Happy World Press Freedom Day 2020.