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Building the strengths of the Fourth Estate

World Press Freedom Day highlights the importance of journalism in the global environmental crisis

May 2^nd, 2024

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Free and independent media organizations are a vital pillar of just, peaceful and inclusive societies. Holding the powerful to account. Uplifting marginalized voices. Giving citizens the information to make decisions in their own and their communities' best interests, such as when they decide whom to vote for.

It can be a dangerous job. Especially in conflict zones, and for women journalists, almost everywhere, online and off.

And the media landscape is rapidly changing. Social media has given a voice – and a camera – to citizen journalists to report on issues that personally affect them.

Yet this surge in accessible information comes with a downside; disinformation and misinformation are muddying the waters of every important issue that we face – from the climate crisis, to conflict, to vaccines and the worldwide levels of distrust in political systems – giving more oxygen to everything from accidental confusion to outright lies.

At the same time, social media platforms are leading to a dramatic loss of revenue in traditional media, which is contributing to a concentration of ownership.

This World Press Freedom Day, UNDP celebrates the journalists we support – young and adult, professional and citizen, regional, community and Indigenous, and the critical work they do to tell the truth about the climate crisis and underpinning and strengthening societies based on reliable and accurate information.

Governance, disinformation and distrust

Half the world's adult population will go to the polls this year, more than ever before in history. The ‘super year’ of elections will present unprecedented challenges in the fight against mis- and disinformation. A safe and free press also helps to ensure the integrity of elections and democratic systems.

Toneo Rutsito, a journalist with Zimbabwe’s TechMag TV, like his peers, faced these issues, as well as the threat of violence. He was one of the first journalists to take part in a UNDP supported media training programme which helped him to be more aware of how false news and hate speech is disseminated.

“The training enlightened me on how to practice responsible journalism, empowering me to provide fair election coverage of political party rallies without discriminating against anyone. I also refrained from transmitting false news and hate speech,” he said.

The police established an election committee before the elections, and UNDP worked with media outlets to create mechanisms for their protection. In 2023, for the first time in the country’s election history, there were no reported cases of police violence against journalists.

In Mozambique, UNDP works with the National Electoral Commission, the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration and the National Union of Journalists on comprehensive media and election training. More than 500 journalists and communication experts from radio, television, print and digital media completed training on the ethics of journalism, the electoral cycle, electoral legislation, and the media's pivotal role in countering misinformation, false news and hate speech.

Toneo Rutsito, a journalist with Zimbabwe’s TechMag TV , took part in a UNDP-supported training to gain awareness on how false news is spread. Photo: TechMag TV

Climate

This year’s World Press Freedom Day is dedicated to the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the global environmental crisis.

Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) are becoming more frequent in Pakistan’s mountains due to the climate crisis. The Green Climate Fund and UNDP’s GLOF-II Project work with the Ministry of Climate Change to train journalist in not just in the physical causes of the disasters, but how they affect Pakistan’s society, especially women and girls.

"Journalists need to be highly vigilant, responsible, and ethically charged in reporting on these climate-induced disasters."

In the Peruvian Amazon, UNDP works with independent news organization Ojo Público and journalists in Iquitos and Pucallpa, two of the regions most affected by illicit economies, deforestation, and threats to journalists and environmental defenders, to provide tools for safer reporting on these issues.

Building the strengths of the Fourth Estate

In the south of the country, UNDP worked with more than 150 journalists to strengthen their knowledge of technological tools that allow an innovative approach to their work and has developed eMonitor+ to detect hate speech in social networks.

eMonitor+, a social media monitoring and analysis system, is also used in Bolivia is to detect and study phenomena of information contamination, including toxic communication, hate speech, misinformation and gender-based violence on social networks.

Bolivia is also working on building a national network of journalists who aim for a culture of peace and conflict resolution.

Violence against women and building peace

The media in Lebanon play an important role in peace building. A journalists’ pact was signed by 34 media outlets in 2013 with the support of the UNDP Peace Building in Lebanon project. It reaffirms the Lebanese media’s leading role in rejecting discrimination and promoting peace and media ethics. UNDP works with Agence France-Presse to train local journalists across the country in conflict-sensitive reporting, countering hate speech, and fact checking and to take their new skills back to their respective organizations

As part of the UN's Youth for Inclusion, Equality and Trust initiative, Kosovo* has engaged young journalists and community volunteers who are actively combating hate speech and divisive narratives by promoting positive storytelling, gender equality, women breaking through in men-dominated fields, and ethnic understanding. Through their work, these Albanian, Serbian and Roma journalists have shown how young women and men are committed to building a more inclusive future.

Language and approach matter, especially when reporting on sensitive issues such as gender-based violence. Women journalists in Serbia are working to literally change the script on how femicide is reported. UNDP works with Journalists against Violence against Women to draw attention to the ways in which media framing of the issue adds to the problem, and how media can encourage greater public awareness of the consequences of violence. The group has trained journalists and editors from a publishing house whose different editions reach more than 1.3 million readers.

Somalia’s traditional patriarchal culture makes it difficult for women to break into journalism, and it is one of the most dangerous places on Earth to report the news. Established with UNDP support and European Union funding, Bilan Media is a groundbreaking women-led media venture that employs only women and has broken major stories on a range of challenging issues. Watch video.

Somalia's women-led media team Bilan challenges gender norms and takes on taboo topics. Photo: UNDP Somalia

“We have opened people’s hearts and minds to the power of women in the media and the importance of having stories told from our perspective. We provide a voice for the voiceless.”

Illustration 1: Mila Jovanović/Journalists against Violence

Illustration 2: Nevena Marković/Journalists against Violence

Footnotes

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

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FootNotes

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

À la recherche d’un équilibre

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Building the strengths of the Fourth Estate

World Press Freedom Day highlights the importance of journalism in the global environmental crisis

FootNotes

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Tour three Mexican coastal communities working towards sustainable, community-based tourism

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As the war approaches the 3-year mark, Sudan's people can't wait to rebuild their lives