"Media freedom is at the core of VOA’s being"

Jessica Jerreat​ is ​VOA’s Press Freedom Editor​. She has worked at the intersection of press freedom and international news for organizations, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and The Times of London. Prior to joining VOA in March 2020, Jerreat was a senior editor at CPJ, where she edited in-depth reports into global censorship and attacks on the press. She previously edited news for the broadsheet press in the U.K., including for the foreign desk of The Times and at the Daily Telegraph. Jerreat has a master’s in War, Media, and Society from the University of Kent at Canterbury, focusing on propaganda, the press, and conflict in the Korean war. ​ ​​

What impact can an organization like VOA have on raising awareness about press freedom worldwide, and how can your role as editor of press freedom enhance this effect? 

Media freedom is at the core of VOA’s being. Our focus is to show through our own journalism the positive impact independent reporting can have. For the news network to dedicate a beat just to press freedom shows how much this issue is valued by VOA and its staff.  

The press freedom desk falls under our Investigations Editor Tom Detzel, and we’ve worked closely to steer the coverage to enterprise reporting, in-depth features that explain not only the obstacles to journalism but also how that impacts the free flow of news, and ultimately audiences.  

From my perspective, it has been an amazing opportunity to look at international news through an insider’s lens, see how the media adapt and react to attempts to silence and intimidate them, and report on patterns and trends we see replicated from one authoritarian regime to the next. The stories I enjoy working on most are those looking at how a particular community accesses news against all odds—like in Tibet, where information is tightly controlled, or Syria, where millions are displaced by war. 

Your experience in both press freedom and international news coverage is vast. How has your background helped you manage the press freedom editorial at VOA? 

Editing news on the World Desk of The Times of London instilled an absolute love and respect for foreign correspondents and that mix of stories that falls under international news. Seeing that range helped me look harder for those unique stories that others may have missed or those unexpected profiles that can open up a new perspective.  

The Times also sparked a fascination with how hostile actors or regimes try to legitimize or excuse their actions and the lengths they will go to stop an idea or the truth. I think that speaks to the power of journalism and its role in the world. 

That interest, coupled with a better understanding of how newsrooms work with local journalists and stringers, in many ways drove me to CPJ, where I edited features and special reports.  

CPJ uses a network for foreign-based reporters and researchers, which taught me a lot about working closely with journalists who don’t share the same first language. It takes a lot of trust and many conversations to develop that editor-reporter relationship and help draw out a full story where details don’t get lost in translation.  

As an editor, I love that process of seeing a story shape up and working closely with reporters, listening to them, talking through content. That has been a big part of how I work, especially at VOA, where I work closely with reporters across our language divisions. And the payoff is always worth it.  Being at CPJ also opened my eyes to the changing risks for foreign media. On my second day there, ISIS released the video of James Foley’s murder. In doing so, it changed the whole conversation around journalist safety, trauma, and the changing dynamic where terrorists no longer need a reporter to get their message out.  

At VOA, I draw on all those experiences to work with reporters across 47 language divisions, listen to their country, report knowledge, and find ways to bring their stories to a broader audience.  

Recently, what have been the most significant press freedom stories you and your team have worked on, and how did they make you feel? 

That is tough. This past year we’ve had several competing directions, from the diminishing rights in Belarus after the contested elections, Hong Kong’s national security law being applied so quickly to silence media; and the Myanmar coup, wherefrom the very start we saw a concerted campaign to cut off access to news, starting with internet blackouts and continuing with the arrests of so many local and foreign media.  

The story that has caught me the most, though, is the experiences of Afghan media amid the U.S. pull-out and Taliban negotiations. We’d seen an immediate spike in targeted killings and threats from September and in late April put out a package that looked at how this big press freedom success story—a country going from one Taliban radio station and no women in visible roles to a diverse media, with female journalists taking such a central role—was now at risk. What stood out in the interviews was how quickly the Afghan community understood the positive role of independent media.

Some of the journalists we spoke with recalled how when they started after the fall of the Taliban, the public would harass and yell at them. But now, even though they are receiving serious threats, these reporters plan to stay because their audiences need them there, to tell their stories, to hold power to account. 

It’s a country that will remain a key focus, as the situation is changing, for the worse, so rapidly. And the journalists we interact with, our own Afghan language division too, have just these amazing perspectives and stories and a sense of bravery and dedication to the very humbling profession.  

Myanmar likewise is another country that had made such gains and just overnight wiped out a decade of progress. With that country, the media are working through extra pressures—not just the risk of torture or arrest, or having to try to work illegally in a third country, but also from the coronavirus pandemic. It’s certainly front of mind daily when I think of the reporters like Hanthar Nyien or Danny Fenster, who have been swept up in this wave of arrests and whose family and colleagues are just hanging on for any updates on their cases or well being.

Having worked for the Committee to Protect Journalists and now working for the VOA on press freedom issues: What are the differences in how you have approached and analyzed press freedom issues? 

CPJ was founded by journalists, and I worked under the outgoing Editorial Director, Elana Beiser, who has extensive foreign editing experience and spent years at the Dow Jones and WSJ in Asia. In many ways, it was run very much like a regular news desk but with an additional focus on safety and advocacy.  

It can be hard in my current role to keep that detached editorial distance and report rather than advocate, but really CPJ prepared me so well for this role and in spotting when an issue may escalate into a more serious problem for the press. 

Jessica Jerreat

How do you prioritize what is essential and not when covering press freedom stories with your VOA team?  

Good question. That is tough.  

VOA has an International audience, so we are looking for stories that cross borders, that speak to all our readers. We also have a wide pool of resources, each of our 47 divisions acts as a separate newsroom and comes with a wealth of talent, expertise, and often firsthand experience of censorship or repression. 

Priority is often what is on the broader news cycle and how coverage of that may be impacting reporting. So with the protests in Cuba recently, we focused on how Cubans were getting news out and the experiences of independent journalists being detained or obstructed.  

We obviously want the content to be timely and relevant. With a press freedom focus, it can often be an opportunity to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how media cover a big news event. There are always exceptions, but generally, I am looking for the bigger picture. Rather than a single raid or arrest, I want to offer readers a deeper understanding of how we got to this point.  

What are the challenges that press freedom journalism faces in the second decade of the 21st century?  

Digital safety, in the wake of the Pegasus Project revelations, is front of mind. That government-licensed software was used to target journalists, potentially exposing confidential sources, is of huge concern. The apparent ease with which smartphones--that we expect to offer full protection--were accessed, I think, will result in some big discussions in newsrooms.  

The digital and social media age and 24-7 news cycle can also present challenges in terms of being able to stand back and assess what is important or to think about how to hold an audience’s attention. Plus, governments have been all too quick to realize the power of cutting off the internet at inconvenient times. 

But I think the idea of slow journalism, of building relationships with readers, so they seek you out as the trusted source, is a start. As journalists, I see part of our job as sifting through all the noise and helping readers make sense of what is happening and why they should care about it. And if we are chasing algorithms and views, we do a disservice to our readers. 

What would you like to share as a message with the community of foreign journalists who work in the U.S. and report back to their countries of origin?  

Some of the best journalism I’ve seen in recent years has been the product of collaboration across newsrooms, across countries. That solidarity and sharing of skills has so much potential and sends a powerful message—thinking in particular of networks like Forbidden Stories who take up the work of slain journalists.  

From the U.S., we have protections, we have the First Amendment, but for any journalist in the U.S. or West, it is important to keep a watch for any chipping away of media rights and not to be afraid to stand up and make noise when we see an attempt to try to divert or smear good journalism.  

I’d also encourage other outlets to look at more press freedom-related stories. It can help readers connect with how reporting works and to understand the risks we take to expose those stories and why that matters to our communities. Silencing of media is already high up in the authoritarian leader playbook, and with journalists out of the picture, it is easier to diminish rights further. 

It is easy to look at Belarus or Myanmar and think that couldn’t happen in a country with a strong record of media rights. But we still have to watch for attempts to curtail the press and then draw attention to it.