CORONAVIRUS : We need reliable news more than ever – act now!

Support RSF during the pandemic.Make a donationJournalists all over the world are doing a remarkable job to keep us informed day in day out, despite all the logistic restrictions, the danger of catching Covid-19, and the threat of reprisals in some countries. This is the case in China, the origin of the pandemic, where massive censorship mechanisms have been put in place and where whistleblowers and journalists nonetheless continue to courageously denounce the shortcomings of the regime’s measure to combat the virus, although many colleagues have disappeared.

Many authoritarian governments are using the coronavirus pandemic to impose measures that would be impossible in normal times, taking advantage of the fact that politics are on hold, the public is stunned and the possibility of protests is limited. At the same time, it is becoming harder and harder for journalists to operate. When journalists face barriers to freely and reliably report about the global pandemic, the consequences are deadly. 

In response to this emergency, RSF created Tracker-19 to shed light on all the obstacles to press freedom linked to Covid-19. Tracker-19 directly documents all cases of harassment of journalists and whistleblowers covering coronavirus-related news worldwide. It draws attention to all serious cases of state censorship and deliberate disinformation, and their impact on the right to reliable news and information. And it makes recommendations on how to keep helping the journalists who are covering the pandemic.

>> Use Tracker-19 to directly follow all the Covid-19 news

Help us now to pursue all our work in support of the journalists who continue to fight, sometimes at risk to their lives, to keep us informed at this difficult time. In the constantly evolving news cycle, they fulfil an essential and vital social function. We need fact-based journalism to combat the spread of the virus.

 >> Support RSF during the covid-19 crisis