Ramallah / PNN/
The Press Freedom Index of Palestine of 2022 indicated a “bad” overall score in the fields that were measured during 2022, as the index scored 374 points out of the total score of 1000 points. The result (bad-red) of press freedom index is the worst result experienced by media freedoms in Palestine during the era of the current government.
This came during a conference held by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms "MADA" yesterday, Tuesday (7th March 2023) at its headquarters in Ramallah, during which the results of the Press Freedom Index of Palestine were presented, which is the fourth index that is prepared locally with the support of the International Media Support (IMS).
The conference was inaugurated by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of “MADA” DR. GHAZI HANANIA. There were speeches delivered by DR. AMMAR DWEIK, Director General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, MR. MONTASER HAMDAN, representative of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and MR. MAJED ARURI, on behalf of the National Commission for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law (Istiqlal). Furthermore, MS. SHEREEN AL-KHATIB, the Acting Director of “MADA”, reviewed the results of the Press Freedom Index, and the conference was moderated by DR. TALEB AWAD from MADA, and was attended by a crowd of media, journalists, and representatives of many local and international organizations.
During his opening speech, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of "MADA" stated that this is the fourth Press Freedom Index, which is issued in the absence of the founder and director of MADA and the creator of the idea of launching the index, the late MR. MUSA AL-RIMAWI, where MADA worked on measuring the indicators of press freedom in Palestine for the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. These indicators were adopted to measure the progress and decline in the level of press freedom in Palestine.
DR. HANANIA stated that this index was based on 8 fields and 72 indicators, expressing his sorrow that the status of media freedoms has declined to this degree, and presented a set of recommendations, including the need for the Palestinian government to ensure respect for freedom of the press, and for the courts to expedite the processing of cases related to media freedoms through which journalists are prosecuted. He also recommended that the government and its security services should stop the policy of arresting and detaining journalists and assaulting them or their equipment.
AL-KHATIB reviewed the results of the Press Freedom Index of 2022, indicating a decline in the index's evaluation from 494 points in 2020 to 374 points in 2022, which means a decline in the index from the problematic rating (orange) to the bad rating (red), and it also indicated that there are no fundamental differences. In the measure of freedom of the press between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both are classified within the same category of values, which is bad.
AL-KHATIB said that the Press Freedom Index of Palestine was based on eight fields and 72 indicators used to measure it. The results of the fields ranged between problematic and bad. The scale of transparency and access to information scored 365 points, the scale of financing policies for the press scored 220 points, which are the lowest, and the scale of legal and social restrictions on freedom of the press scored 366 points, while all indicators of the field of “self-censorship and government procedures” scored less than 50%.
The field of operational independence of the media scored 419 points, and the field of the media and diversity of content scored 417 points, which are the two highest fields, and the rest of the fields lie in between.
AL-KHATIB indicated that there is a zero point scored by 5 indicators out of 72, including the constancy of the two indicators, the harmonization of national legislation after Palestine signed the international conventions guaranteeing freedom of the press, and the lack of legal provisions criminalizing government officials’ incitement against the media. She added that three indicators have declined to zero, namely the number of journalists who have been summoned by security or judicial agencies for their journalistic work, the imposition of legal restrictions on addressing ethnic, religious and national security issues, and the number of arrests of journalists and media professionals.
She also indicated that the scale revealed that the indicators of "having safeguards guaranteed by the Basic Law on Freedom of the Press" and "the absence of judicial judgments imposing financial fines on journalists for committing publishing crimes" during 2022 were the best indicators of press freedom, i.e. each scored 1000 points.
DR. AMMAR DWEIK, in his speech, stressed the importance of continuing this index, which is based on scientific indicators that help in understanding the reality based on facts and figures studied within a specific technique, despite the absence of any change in the basic issues that affect the freedom of press work in terms of the disruption of the Legislative Council, the continued split, the existence of a legislative environment that does not help the freedom of press work, and rather, serve as restrictions, as behind such stands a political will concerned with imposing restrictions on freedom of press work and freedom of opinion and expression, and unless there is a change in the legislative environment, media freedoms will remain stagnant.
DR. DWEIK clarified that the time has come to review the fields of the index and feed it with new indicators related to the digital space, such as the spread of false news, and the spread of hate speech that affects press work in some partisan media that may use terms that fall within the scope of hate speech more than press work.
MR. MONTASER HAMDAN, a member of the Secretariat of the Journalists Syndicate called to hold consultations among all media sector institutions to overcome the difficulties that stand in the way of the index including Israeli violations. HAMDAN also indicated that there is a need to form a national team to follow up on the implementation of the recommendations contained in this report to reach an enabling environment to ensure freedom of press work.
MR. MAJED ARURI, The Head of Istiqlal Center, and a member of MADA’s Board of Directors, stated that the result of the press freedom index of 2022 is the worst in the history of the Palestinian Authority, especially under the current government, compared to the results of previous international indexes, as Palestine was among the advanced countries for press freedom.
AL-AROURI stressed that the government's condemnation of the violations against media freedoms is not sufficient. Since the killing of the activist "NIZAR BANAT", no case has been documented in which any attacker on press freedom has been prosecuted, nor has any journalist been compensated for the attack.
Furthermore, AL-AROURI, who was the supervisor of the first two indexes, also explained that the main idea since the launch of the first index is related to the Palestinian measures, as the annual report of MADA is for monitoring Israeli violations in quantity and quality.
AL-AROURI indicated that this index is implemented in a neutral manner, and if the concerned parties do not follow a policy against freedom of the press, the index may rise to 700 points, if the index involves 72 indicators, and any improvement in any of them is reflected in the final result of the index.
The conference came with manye recommendations most importants of them were highlights the need for the Government and its security services to stop arresting and detaining journalists or personally assaulting them or their equipment, and to take deterrent measures against anyone who assaults journalists.
It is necessary for the Public Prosecution to seriously investigate all complaints it receives, and to refer the files to the competent judicial authorities upon completing the investigation to hold accountable persons who commit crimes against the law.
Establish a governmental center specialized in receiving, processing, and seriously investigating complaints, and referring aggressors to justice.
The need for the Palestinian courts to expedite the disposition of cases related to press freedom in which journalists are prosecuted against the background of publication and meeting their professional duties, and to ensure respect for freedom of the press.
The need to stop all forms of intervening in the work of journalists, stop putting pressures on them or demand them to remove materials they publish or threaten them or incite against them on the background of publication.
Form an independent high media council separated from the Government to ensure respect for freedom of the press and the regulation of media outlets.
Reconsider the Government financial policies for the media, especially fees and taxes imposed thereon, and provide immediate financial aids to the media agencies threatened with closure due to their heavy losses because of the spread of COVID-19.
Ensure the rights of all journalists who work for media agencies that have been closed and review the Corporates Law to ensure that the rights of personnel of such agencies are guaranteed in the event of closure.
Run free and transparent elections at the Syndicate of Journalists and activate its role in protecting their rights given it is the official representative body of journalists.
Approve the law on the right to access information, and provid the necessary mechanisms to enforce the law.
Harmonize the local legislation with international standards related to freedom of expression stipulated in the international conventions acceded by Palestine.
Repeal any legal legislation in force that allows websites to be closed without a court decision, and to pass the legislation guaranteeing freedom of the press in accordance with the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law.
Engage journalists and civil society organizations in any official discussion on amending laws related to press freedom or issuing new laws.
The need to move forward with running general presidential and legislative elections, given that the separation of powers and running elections contribute to creating an appropriate environment for respecting freedom of expression.
Index Link:
https://www.madacenter.org/en/article/1414/
