Above: The eight cases reviewed include: Abzas Media (Azerbaijan); El Faro (San Salvadore); Erick Kabendera (Tanzania); Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong); José Rubén Zamora (Guatemala); Maria Ressa and Rappler (The Philippines); NewsClick (India) and Nika Gvaramia in Georgia.
‘In a growing number of countries, constraints on funding media are so high that the business of running an independent media is effectively criminalised.
This forces journalists and media outlets into exile.’ – Edward Pittman
Co-author: Misuse of Economic Charges to Silence, Threaten and Attack the Press
Weaponizing the Law: Attacks on Media Freedom, published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation last year, highlighted “a global tidal wave of legal threats against journalists, designed to stifle unwanted narratives and public debate.”
Weaponizing the Law outlined eight categories of legal threats to journalists across the globe, some in the form of new laws.
Now, a new report by WAN-IFRA and the IAPA, Misuse of Economic Charges to Silence, Threaten and Attack the Press, focuses on just one category – abusive financial crime allegations – to underscore the widespread extent and harmful impact of this growing worldwide practice.
The report will be launched at WAN-IFRA’s Newsroom Summit 2024 today, 23 October in an eponymous panel session: Misuse of Economic Charges to Silence, Threaten and Attack the Press, moderated by freelance journalist and RSF Suisse Board Member, Andrea Kučera.
The report, authored by Elisa Juega and Edward Pittman, reviews 8 cases of journalists and media outlets to illustrate the extent to which financial crime allegations – which include tax evasion, money laundering, extortion, blackmail, terrorism financing, fraud, embezzlement and illegally receiving foreign funds – are used.
“Our research shows how the misuse and abuse of financial crimes to target journalists and media is a growing phenomenon in all regions. In a growing number of countries, constraints on funding media are so high that the business of running an independent media is effectively criminalised. This forces journalists and media outlets into exile,” notes Pittman.
Methods used indicate a shared autocratic playbook: “In many cases the very tools brought in to fight corruption are used by various governments to target journalists seeking to unearth corruption,” adds Pittman.
Dual strategies and common trends
The report notes a “dual strategy” in all cases: to attack both the reputation and financial viability of the journalist or news outlet.
“There is a worrying pattern of the misuse of financial laws to silence journalists: in many cases the goal is to destroy the reputation and credibility of journalists and media outlets by labelling them as “corrupt,” explains Jueega.
“Charges of money laundering, fraud or tax evasion usually end up with prison convictions. This sends a chilling effect to the overall media and journalists community.”
What’s more, few media houses can afford the cost of countering economic lawfare, says Juega: “Defending such complex and sometimes opaque charges is very costly for journalists and media outlets, and many lack access to a proper legal defence. When they have, too often lawyers are also persecuted.”
The review identified the following main trends:
The threat of imprisonment that those economic charges pose has a strong chilling effect in the media community in the country and worldwide.
As financial charges correspond to criminal law, many prosecutions result in lengthy pre-trial detention, prison terms and hefty fines. Consequences also include exile of staff, financial loss/ruin and closure of the media outlet’s operations.
During the criminal investigation and trial, journalists and media operations can be denied access to bank accounts and have their assets frozen, hampering their finances.
Legal defence against such charges is very costly and requires access to tax and criminal lawyers, accounting experts, and other legal expertise to which journalists and media outlets do not have easy access.
Often, media organisations and journalists are reliant on the goodwill and/or commitment to freedoms by the law and accountancy firms working with them, but lawyers defending such cases are increasingly attacked.
The narrative behind such charges intends to label journalists as criminals, erode public support, and attack the journalist’s or media outlet’s reputation
Read the full report here.
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