What does press freedom really mean? AFC-USA talks with press freedom advocate Carlos Lauría

Former foreign correspondent and press freedom expert Carlos Lauría has had a long career defending journalists and press freedom. Lauría worked at the Committee to Protect journalists for over a decade before moving to the Open Society Foundation’s Program on Independent Journalist where he is the team manager of the Free and Safe Journalism portfolio.

Lauría started his career as a journalist in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1986 where he wrote for a few newspapers and outlets before moving to New York in 1994 to be the U.S. bureau chief correspondent for Editorial Perfil. On March 3, Lauría sat down with the AFC-USA to discuss press freedom and threats facing today's journalists.

Violence Against the Press

Journalists throughout the globe were shaken by the news that The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi had gone missing and later learned, was murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. It was not the first time that a journalist had been murdered as a result of their work. Thirty-two journalists were killed in 2020 alone according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

Watch the video of our conversation with Carlos Lauria

It’s a reality that Lauría knows personally all too well. Lauría referred to a statistic released by UNESCO, which found that nine out of 10 murders of journalists remain unsolved. “I think we’re going through a very obscure and dark period,” said Lauría. “There are several problems affecting the state of the press but the reality is that global performance is now in steep decline.” 

Lauría referenced large criminal networks, the relationships governments have with journalists, the backsliding of western democracies such as the United States and countries across Europe as elements of a “very dark portrait of the state of press freedom around the world.” 

A Chilling Effect

While dozens of journalists are murdered every year, countless more are silenced through intimidation or imprisonment for their work. In 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists found that there are at least 274 journalists in jail for their work around the world. 

Lauría says this is a problem because not only does it make journalists defend themselves by hiring lawyers, but it also creates a chilling effect on working journalists. “The problem is that in many cases because of the deadly violence because of the threat of imprisonment or legal action many of the issues that affect the daily lives of people around the world are not being reported,” said Lauría. 

The chilling effect doesn’t only affect journalists, Lauría said. “It’s clearly having an impact on the citizens' rights to be informed,” he said. “There’s an information vacuum which is bad for democracy because it doesn’t allow the possibility to engage in a discussion.”  

Press Freedom Across the Globe

During the talk exchange, investigative journalist Frank Smyth asked Lauría how he thought that press freedom and human rights committees can get traction after the backsliding of western democracies in terms of press freedom. 

Lauría said that he thinks that the U.S. was falling back on press freedom long before Donald Trump became the U.S. president, citing the lack of transparency after Sept. 11, 2001, and the record number of prosecutions of whistleblowers during the Obama administration. 

However, Lauría noted that the Trump administration was a different chapter. He feels that “one of the worst consequences is emboldenment” Trump provided those in power after the murder of Khashoggi where there were no consequences despite evidence provided by the U.N. that pointed to the involvement of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. 

“He got a pass basically, right,” said Lauría. “So I think there is a sense in the press freedom community that this is an era that the allies or the former allies of press freedom causes are not what they used to be.”

Advice to AFC members

For the next generation of foreign correspondents, Lauría thinks that it is important for journalists to be much more aware of press freedom issues. "Journalists usually look at press freedom when they have a problem themselves – when they are victims of a threat or an attack,” he said. 

Lauría says that he is an optimist despite the current state of press freedom. “I think that despite that though you see in many parts of the world dozens of examples of journalists and outlets that are doing amazing work,” said Lauría.