By Jessica Wesson, AAEA 2020 Editorial Intern
In the last five years, there have been 306 journalists murdered in connection to their work. Iraq, Syria, Mexico and Afghanistan have held the top spots for the largest number of journalists killed in a single year.
Execution is not the only pressure that journalists face worldwide. Harassment, job loss, physical harm and property damage also pose a threat for communicators trying to tell their stories.
The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) hosted a virtual webinar in late June to discuss the freedom of press in various countries. Three speakers gave their testimonies about what it’s like for journalists in their countries.
Per Henrik Hansen, Denmark’s representative on the executive committee for IFAJ, spoke about the tactics he uses to inform his audience.
“When I work as a journalist, I try to be nothing else than my readers’ eyes and ears,” said Hansen.
Hansen graduated from the Danish School of Journalism and is a member of the board of directors of the Danish Food and Agricultural Journalists. He said his goal is to give readers unbiased information, so readers may make their own decisions about what they are reading.
“I can only do that when I have the freedom to be curious on behalf of the reader. I need the freedom to gather the facts, interview whomever I want, and to ask the questions I want,” said Hansen.
Hansen said the best way to preserve the freedom of press is to utilize it as much as possible.
“Without the exploitation of this freedom, it will decay. People will forget that it exists,” warned Hansen.
Richmond Frimpong, the president of Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association, told about Ghana’s fairly new introduction of freedom of the press.
“(The freedom of the press) was established in 1992 in our constitution,” said Frimpong.
To him, the freedom of press is more than simply being able to write what you think.
“Press freedom is a vital ingredient in democracy. For a country to stand on its own, it has to have strong media with journalists that are able to criticize and analyze,” said Frimpong.
In his country, freedom of press could be the difference between life and death for citizens.
“I can confidently say that without freedom of the press, many of our villages and farming communities may have been relegated to not having access to potable drinking water or electricity. We have put out information that helps the government make an informed decision about developing these communities,” said Frimpong.
Freedom of the press allows individuals to remain free of total oppression, according to Frimpong.
“Without freedom of the press, we will be silenced. We will not be free citizens, but mere subjects controlled by whomever happens to be (in power),” says Frimpong.
The last speaker, freelance agricultural writer and photographer Steve Werblow from Oregon talked about freedom of press in the United States. He recently was elected Vice President of IFAJ. He said one of the biggest issues for American journalists is monetary freedom.
“There is economic pressure for whether you should take a story or not take a story,” said Werblow.
The agricultural journalism world has been mostly unaffected by the more common threats such as murder and loss of jobs. Its biggest enemy is money.
“Sometimes you might get an advertiser that’s angry and will call to complain to your publisher. I have been fortunate to not have this as a problem over the years, but I know several of my colleagues have,” said Werblow.
Several questions were raised concerning what IFAJ can do to help ensure the freedom of press in various countries.
“IFAJ can’t prescribe ethics to every member. It’s going to be different where budgets are tight, where political pressure is extreme and in other situations. What we can do is help our member guilds create ethics codes that work within their systems,” said Werblow.
He went on to talk about some of the efforts that AAEA is making.
“(AAEA) created an ethics code to help protect journalists from political and economic pressures. We found that the editors and communicators both wanted this written framework for their own benefits. We now have a separate ethics code for each,” explained Werblow.
While many countries have some form of freedom of press written into their laws, they may have lingering pressures that journalists still face. Progress is being made, but the webinar’s overall message was there still is a long way to go to achieve global freedom of the press.