UNESCO Chairs providing a compass in a post-truth world

“Abusive use of State power is becoming more prevalent and the threats to free and independent news, journalism and by extension freedom of expression, are becoming more insidious than ever,” says Professor Jackie Harrison, UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity (United Kingdom). She is one of the many UNESCO Chairs around the world advancing the cause of freedom of expression, press freedom and the safety of journalists. Like many of her counterparts, she is concerned about the current state of freedom of expression and sees a three-fold threat which mutually exacerbates “this downward spiral of a reduction of freedom of expression, freedom of speech.” 

Firstly, there is a “a culture of deceit” whereby the responsibility to be truthful is ignored, editorial integrity is disputed, and accuracy and honesty in reporting are regarded as irrelevant.” She qualifies this saying that misinformation is sometimes passed on accidentally but it can also be manipulated, so what looks like news is actually heavily partisan, shaped by particular vested interests of state of commercial power. Secondly, political and economic conditions also encourage self-censorship, which in turn, rewards client news and information gathering that can simply conform to what state power wants to hear.  

Thirdly, there is another assault of freedom of expression through the direct attacks on journalists and media companies. Attacks on journalists can be lethal killing of journalists - and that number continues to grow in parts of the – but there are other ways of silencing journalists, including arbitrary detentions, imprisonments, kidnapping, psychosocial or financial attacks. Whilst less extreme, this category “is still absolutely horrendous in what they symbolize.” She has been working closely with UNESCO to develop international methodologies to monitor attacks on journalists, as per Sustainable Development Goal 16.10 to “ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms”. She says that it is also important to measure minor attacks on journalists as those attacks can escalate. 

Catalina Botero, UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression: Promoting Peace and Justice through Free Speech in Latin America (Colombia), strongly agrees that these issues are more pressing than ever and says that violence and intimidation of journalists have become worse in her region. In her work, she supports judges, civil servants, human rights defenders and students understand the threats against journalists and freedom of expression more broadly. She has been actively involved in UNESCO’s Judges’ Initiative, which, since 2013 has trained over 36,000 judges, prosecutors and lawyers on international and regional standards on freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists. “Today, judges are the last defence barrier for journalists in Latin America. Because of this some governments have assaulted the judicial system because they know that judges are defending principles and values, and that some of their decisions will go down in history.” 

The theme of World Press Freedom Day 2024, celebrated on the 3 May, was “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis”, a theme she sees as being highly pertinent in resource-rich Latin America. Illegal mining, in particular, is a major threat to woodland and waterways, as well as drinking water supplies, and relies on journalists to bring such stories to light. Such powerful economic interests - often linking organized crimes to politicians in complex webs of corruption - use all means necessary to bury the story and continue their activities, including murder. But, she laments, “when there is no investigative journalism, there is, essentially silence.”  

Another major concern is the increasing and pernicious use of so-called strategic lawsuits against public participate or “SLAPP” laws which companies – and sometimes illegal groups - use to shut down journalistic investigation. Professor Harrison says that these are prevalent in Europe, describing the situation as “law weaponized to silence journalists” and is currently researching their use in the UK. But Professor Botero sees their rise in Latin America too where there is currently very little legal protection. She cites a recent ruling of the Inter-American Court on these issues but says that, overall legal mechanisms for protecting freedom of expression across the continent are insufficient. 

The media landscape has changed enormously over the past few decades, particularly with online news sources challenging the traditional forms of print, radio and television media, with implications for the business model of media outlets, as well ensuring access to quality information. Social media is now the primary way that many people receive news and information, which is why it is the research focus for Randy Covington, Member of the UNESCO Chair for Data, Media and Society (US) and former journalist. He admits that he himself spends “an almost embarrassing” amount of time on Twitter, (now known as X) and that it is pretty discouraging to look at social media as a primary source of news and information but important in “trying to figure out ways to save ‘accountability journalism’.” 

Through the social media laboratory using sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) analytic software, he and his colleagues have been tracking trends in how misinformation and disinformation – including conspiracy theories – are disseminated via social media. Their current research is tracking how climate deniers spread messages using the hashtag #climatescam with the aim of uncovering the relationships between groups who spread disinformation on climate science. Previous research projects include tracking the popularity of the term “fake news” in social media, which, in recent years has been replaced by the more accurate and neutral terms “disinformation” and “misinformation”. 

Whilst AI is a useful tool, it is also posing new challenges. For example, ‘deepfakes’ - digitally manipulated images and video to replace one person's likeness with another’s – are blurring the lines of reality. Whilst they are relatively easy to spot – although Covington admits that probably the average person cannot – laws and regulations have not kept apace with the technology. Professor Harrison says that “the journalist of the future still has to make responsible decisions about what they see and what they retrieve.” She says her students “have to handle complexity much better than previous generations, not only because the story is complex, but where the information is coming from can be very complex as well [due to]… the pervasive use of these technologies to create false knowledge, particularly false science, conspiracy theories, unreliable information.” But Professor Botero also sees technology, deployed wisely, as a vital tool in reviving the business model of traditional news, for example using podcasts, videos, and images can reach wider audiences, coupled with strategies that build audience loyalty. 

Given the challenges facing the dissemination of quality information, at the 2021 World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO advocated for the notion of “information as a public good”. For Professor Botero, this concept is vital as on the current trajectory “we are going to have serious problems being able to communicate with one another, to be able to understand one another, know what the relevant facts are and to be able to participate in an informed manner in public conversations, as well as to make informed personal and political decisions.” The erosion of the idea of journalism as a public good “has devastating consequences for society”, according to Professor Botero, particularly in 2024 when more than four billion people – over half the world’s population – will be eligible to participate in elections. For her, one of the major strengths of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme is being in contact with other researchers working on diverse topics, mutually reinforcing understanding of diverse societal issues. 

Mr Covington says that this is a shared responsibility: “For those of us in journalism, we have strayed from the very simple mission of searching for the truth”. However, it is not just news organizations and journalists who have to change their mentality, “the public has to realise that accountability journalism is really important, that there is value in knowing the truth.” For Mr Covington, parts of the older generation – who rely on television for news – is irredeemable, but for younger people, he believes the key is to start media literacy and critical thinking skills early. He says that a closer relationship with UNESCO has also helped him connect his students to a broader global vision of the world to “try to overcome myopia” and see interconnections between issues such as authoritarian governments, climate change and food security.  

Despite the bleak picture that can be painted, all three UNESCO Chairs see reasons for optimism. For Professor Harrison, one of the good news stories about new journalists is the collaboration between journalists and news organizations when there is a large data drop which is too big for one news organization to handle. This bucks the trend of competition to “get the scoop”. Her current research is on international collaborations on projects such as the Panama Papers, a giant leak in 2016 of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records which exposed a system enabling crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies. For her, this turns the usual news model of getting the scoop on its head because “they couldn’t afford to get anything wrong because one wrong statement would undermine the whole enterprise.” This “wonderful journalistic vigilance” led to resignations and legal action against key players. She hopes that we will see more collaborations like this, not only to deal with the complexity of stories but also because international collaborations mean that journalists protect each other. 

Jackie Harrison says that since becoming a UNESCO Chairholder she’s “a bit more of an advocacy person” and has moved from just researching to connecting with other partners. With her team, she has created the Journalism Safety Research Network, hosted at Sheffield University, with the support of UNESCO. Now numbering some 280 researchers, this network feeds inputs from the global academic stakeholder community into international advocacy, for example, the ten-year consultation on the UN Plan of action on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity. It is “thrilling” to be part of an evidence gathering community and UNESCO Chairs have a “huge responsibility” to recognize the complexity of the world and include different voices.