Press freedom in Europe is more fragile now than anytime since the Cold War, according to a new report by the Council of Europe. Journalists increasingly face obstruction, hostility and violence, says the report by partner organisations of the Council's Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. Among the key problems: impunity protects those behind violent attacks on journalists; legal protections have been weakened; public service media is being undermined; attacks on freelance journalists are up; and the space to hold the powerful to account has been diminished. Urgent actions backed by a determined show of political will are required, the report finds.
Source: Article 19
The Native American Journalists Association this week launched the first investigative network to provide better watchdog reporting on US Native American communities. Called the Indigenous Investigative Collective, the new group aims to provide training, resources, and networked support to indigenous reporters covering tribal governments in the country. The collective is being designed to connect whistleblowers with journalists in the tribes through secure handling of sensitive documents, data and news tips.
Source: NAJA
GIJN is joining the international journalism community in demanding Philippine officials release and drop charges against Maria Ressa, the executive editor and founder of the critical news website Rappler, who was arrested Wednesday. Officials arrested Ressa at Rappler's bureau in Manila over a cyber libel case filed against her by the Justice Department. The news group livestreamed the arrest, made by officers clad in civilian clothes, on its Facebook page. The charge relates to a 2012 story about local businessman Wilfredo Keng. Penalties for violations under the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act include imprisonment and fines.
Source: CPJ
The Center for Cooperative Media released the Audience Explorer dashboard — a free, easy-to-use analytics tool for small and medium-sized publishers. The dashboard is comprised of 10 reports which drill into Google Analytics to specifically pull the kind of data publishers need to grow a relationship with their loyal and potentially-loyal readers. It provides side-by-side views of three different segments of readers, the content that resonates and the platforms driving engagement.
Source: Center for Cooperative Media
Built by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Datashare is an application that allows journalists to efficiently search and organize documents. Datashare is built on some of the same technology that helped ICIJ produce its biggest projects, such as the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, but rather than rely on ICIJ’s servers, Datashare can be installed on your own computer. While the technology is still in beta – which means you will almost certainly experience glitches and moments where the program doesn’t work -- ICIJ hopes the technology will assist with secure collaborations, without needing ICIJ’s data team to index hundreds of files.
Source: ICIJ
This week's roundup of attacks on free expression by IFEX is alarming. A global watchdog monitoring free speech and media, IFEX reports attacks by far-right hoods on journalists in France, Greece, Italy and the UK during January 24-31. And that's just for Europe. Reporters were attacked at a yellow-vest protest in Rouen, France, while journalists in UK were repeatedly targeted by far-right groups that have attached themselves to the pro-Brexit movement. In Italy, journalists covering a neo-fascist event in Rome were assaulted, part of an upsurge in attacks since that country's populist, anti-immigrant government came to power in June 2017. And in Greece, journalists were attacked by members of the far-right Golden Dawn.
Source: IFEX
