We are the media
Information is power. Or, as Sir Francis Bacon put it more artfully in 1597: “The better information one has, the more one will be able to control events.” Considering that democracy is about the people being in power and controlling those that govern them, it is logical that this year’s motto for World Press Freedom Day is: “Information as a public good.”
Thirty years ago, this principle was one of the leading ideas behind the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration — the event that also led to the establishment of the annual World Press Freedom Day. As a young civil servant, I had the pleasure to be present during the UNESCO seminar in Namibia that resulted in this landmark document on press freedom principles. I still remember the inspiring and optimistic atmosphere, the gripping promise of true democratization of the media landscape. We witnessed the crucial affirmation of the international community's commitment to freedom of the press, of the media as the bearers of information that we need to maintain democracy.
As always, some of these promises have become reality, while others still need to be worked on. In democracy, nothing can ever be taken for granted. What has struck me though, especially since taking up my mandate as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media almost six months ago, is the growing distrust in the press.
Accusing reputed media outlets and individual journalists of publishing “fake” and biased news has become second nature for many authorities and other groups in society. Abuses or physical attacks against reporters during public gatherings, for instance, or online smear campaigns against journalists seem to have become a new normal and widely accepted. In this aggressive atmosphere, it becomes even easier for authorities to hinder or block media they label as “foreign”, as much as it becomes more “normal” for the economically powerful to use long and costly lawsuits to stop already financially struggling media outlets from unveiling uncomfortable truths.
This trend worries me greatly. It undermines the very idea that, now more than ever amidst a global pandemic, we need journalists to bring us the information we depend on. Distrust leads to a counter-movement to the very ideals that our organization, the OSCE, was built upon: the ideal to further peace, security and human rights in our region, based on mutual understanding and co-operation. It leads to inward looking, instead of open-minded dialogue. It leads to people not being well informed, but only hearing the news that is being spread in their own small bubbles.
To counter this negative trend, we need a revival of the passion we cherished 30 years ago. We need to realize once more that the lives of our democracies depend on a thriving and pluralistic media landscape. We need to discuss possible steps to ensure the economic viability of news media; to establish mechanisms for ensuring transparency of internet companies; and to teach our children how to recognize and value, as well as defend and demand, journalism as a vital part of information as a public good. To realize again that we are the media.
The OSCE, as an intergovernmental organization, is well suited for this task. Its comprehensive concept of security covers not only politico-military, economic and environmental dimensions, but also the human dimension. It works through political dialogue about shared values and through practical work that contributes to sustainable progress. Being mandated by the OSCE participating States to observe media developments and to advocate and promote full compliance with their principles and commitments in respect of freedom of expression and free media, I will use the coming two-and-a-half years of my term to do all that I can to contribute to rebuilding trust in the media. Our media.