Journalism and the frontlines of a smokeless war

In India, the editor of a news website remains in police custody(Opens in new window) after his arrest under a terrorism prevention law in a case that has seen police interrogate dozens of other journalists.

In Russia, a second US journalist after the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich was detained by the authorities on October 18(Opens in new window), as the country widened its crackdown independent journalism after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year, Tunisia used security and counterterrorism legislation as well as a presidential decree on cybercrimes, to arrest and convict six journalists for spreading “false news, information or rumours(Opens in new window)”.

In Guatemala, a newspaper considered a beacon of the independent press published its last(Opens in new window) edition in May, citing intolerable government pressure and “severe adverse conditions(Opens in new window)”.

In Algeria, the editor of one of the country’s last remaining independent media outlets was sentenced to three years in prison(Opens in new window) on the charge of receiving “foreign financing of his business”.

A common thread runs darkly through these cases. The journalists and their outlets laid bare inconvenient truths, material unpalatable to the authorities because it diverged from the official messaging.

It’s not that everyone on the list above was engaged in explosive investigative journalism, unveiling deep corruption and rot at the heart of state.

Read at https://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk.

Dr Rashmee Roshan Lall presented ‘The World Today’, BBC World Service’s flagship news and current affairs programme, was editor of The Sunday Times of India and has written for The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist and Foreign Policy among others. Her novel Pomegranate Peace (Hachette) was based on a year spent in Afghanistan. She currently writes a popular newsletter This Week, Those Books, which connects international news to the world of books