“Democracy has 4 main pillars: free elections, independent justice system, unrestricted right of people to demonstrate peacefully and freedom of the press”, said last week a famous German journalist, Claus Kleber, when he began presenting the news on politics on TV .
Well, in a year when the word “post- truth” was voted the word of the year by literature academics in many countries, such as the United States and Germany, expressing their concerns that most of us can no longer distinguish between truth and fake news, we can say that the pillar “freedom of the press” is becoming totally misleading, contributing in many ways to deepening the dysfunction of society.
But, without freedom of the press there is no democracy. It is time to call upon journalists to protect journalism itself and, consequently, democracy. This is the opinion of Christiane Amanpour, one of the most consequential voices for freedom of the press and the importance of fact-based journalism. She is appealing to journalists to “re-commit to robust, fact-based reporting, without fear and without favour, on the issues”, “stop banalizing the truth”, and to “fight against the normalization of what is unacceptable”.
She believes, she says, in being truthful, not neutral.
She also “strongly believes that we, the media, can either contribute to a more functional system or to deepening the dysfunction”. We must remember this when we are building the world we want our children to live in.
I could not agree more.
by Nelmara Arbex
To find out more
Watch this powerful 90 seconds short video where Christiane Amanpour makes her appeal to protect journalism (be patient and wait till the 15 seconds advertisement is finished). See also the texts and videos on her page.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/23/opinions/christiane-amanpour-journalism-in-trump-era/index.html
About Christiane Amapour
Amanpour has won every major television journalism award, including eleven News and Documentary Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards and the Courage in Journalism Award. She has received nine honorary degrees, has been appointed a CBE and was this year inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. She is an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of the Press and the Safety of Journalists.
