Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has reported a “dramatic deterioration” in access to information and an “increase in obstacles” for journalists during the Covid-19 pandemic in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index ranking.
It said journalists across the world, but particularly in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, are finding it increasingly difficult to investigate and report on sensitive stories.
And the press freedom campaign group questioned whether access to information blocked by authorities during the past year will be restored when the pandemic draws to a close.
RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said: “Journalism is the best vaccine against disinformation.
“Unfortunately, its production and distribution are too often blocked by political, economic, technological and, sometimes, even cultural factors. In response to the virality of disinformation across borders, on digital platforms and via social media, journalism provides the most effective means of ensuri
Covid travel news live: US to warn against trips to most of world, as UK border hit by fake test certificates Kate Ng and Jon Sharman Coronavirus in numbers
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LIVE – Updated at 13:23
The US is expected to advise against travelling to more than three-quarters of the world’s countries in an expansion of its coronavirus alert level.
The State Department’s level-four “do not travel” alert currently covers 34 nations including Kenya, Russia and Brazil, but officials now say they will extend it to 80 per cent of the globe.
It comes as British MPs are told that hundreds of people are trying to enter the country on fake Covid test documents.
Covid news - live: UK to ‘supercharge’ search for at-home treatments, as EU warns of ‘possible’ J&J clot link Kate Ng,Jon Sharman and Vincent Wood
LIVE – Updated at 18:40
The UK government is set to launch a taskforce to “supercharge” the hunt for a new generation of antiviral medicines that can treat people infected with Covid-19 in their own homes.
Modelled after the team responsible for obtaining the nation’s vaccine supplies, the taskforce will search for and support treatments currently in development that can reduce transmission and speed up recovery from Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the European medicines regulator said there is a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine and very rare blood clots.
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Japan fell one spot from last year, to No. 67 on the list by Reporters Without Borders, which cited a climate of mistrust towards journalists that is encouraged by the nationalist right. | POOL / VIA REUTERS
AFP-JIJI, STAFF REPORT Apr 20, 2021
Paris/Tokyo – The annual report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Tuesday that journalism was at least partly blocked in nearly three-quarters of the 180 countries surveyed.