“Journalism under Digital Siege” - Historic African World Press Freedom Day 2022

In the presence of H.E. Mrs. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, the African continental wide World Press Freedom Day 2022, brought together over 650 participants in the historic city of Arusha, Tanzania, from 1 to 3 May.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa and Representative, congratulated Tanzania for hosting this first ever event for Africa and making significant progress in advancing press freedom, freedom of expression and access to information.

As a growing model of progress in Africa, Tanzania has recently lifted the bans on four newspapers, while transforming its state broadcaster into a truly public service broadcaster; it has also strengthened public access to information as a fundamental right. These actions illustrate Tanzania's commitment to expand civic space and guarantee public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms as targeted in the Sustainable Development Goal 16.

Prof. Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa

In her keynote address, the President Samia Suluhu Hassan directed media laws in Tanzania to be amended through dialogue, and called on exchange of good practices among African countries as well as support of international community in this regard. "The Ministry will continue to stand for journalists and press freedom in Tanzania and in Africa", said the Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology in Tanzania, Nape Nnauye.

The African Union's message on this World Press Freedom Day was the one on solidarity with African media in the context of the growing threats and challenges facing journalism in Africa. Ms Wynne Musabayana, Head of Communication Division at the African Union Commission, said: "As we celebrate this day, we cannot afford to forget, nor to negate, the price that many African journalists paid as they reported, either from the newsrooms or from the theatre of operation, about the COVID19 pandemic. When the world came to a standstill, the media consistently provided life-saving information."

Every year, 3 May is a date to celebrate and recall the fundamental principles of press freedom, freedom of expression and access to information, and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. The World Press Freedom Day has its origin in Africa, in the UNESCO conference that took place in Windhoek, Namibia in 1991. The landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence produced by African journalists became the first in a series of commitments, region by region, to uphold the freedom of people everywhere to voice their opinions, and their access to a variety of independent sources of information.

Since 1991, the information landscape has undergone tremendous changes, especially with the advent of the Internet and social media. While these technologies allow us to access more news than ever before, they also expose us to mis- and dis-information as well as hate speech. For instance, during the first year of the COVID pandemic it was frightening to see that mis- and dis-information spread even faster than the virus itself.

The digital sphere also raises new challenges to our privacy and personal data protection with digital surveillance tools being used by different actors in violation of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. It has also provided new tools to those who wish to silence free expression, dissent, and investigations into wrongdoings. We have seen an increase in digital attacks, especially against women journalists. Indeed, journalism is today 'under digital siege' - an issue so pressing that it has inspired the overall theme of this year's World Press Freedom Day.

The Africa Media Convention 2022 concluded in the Arusha Declaration which highlights a number of recommendations to support economic viability of independent news media and to reform laws and policies that criminalize free speech, facilitate surveillance, impact privacy and exercise of journalism. The Arusha Declaration emphasizes on the key role of media as a catalyst for the global commitment towards Sustainable Development and for Aspiration 3 of Agenda 2063 which envisions 'an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.'